


Marked

by feelskilledthefangirl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Markings, F/M, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Magical Tattoos, Mechanic Dean, Socially Awkward Castiel, Soul Bond, Soul mate, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-04 01:05:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 41,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4120714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelskilledthefangirl/pseuds/feelskilledthefangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since the dawn of time humans have always believed that there was that one person out there who could complete them like no other. This idea has been pressed into people’s minds from the moment they could understand the meaning of the words that were spoken. Children were always told fantastic, beautiful stories of how their parent met that one special person in their lives and how everything just seemed to click. To go along with these stories children were told to look forward to their early teen years for the day when they each got their marking, which was supposed to change your life and help lead you to your one true soulmate in life.</p><p>Dean Winchester was a late bloomer when it came to his marking. Honestly, he didn't really even see the reason why people made such a big deal out of it. Nothing in his life had changed since he'd gotten his marking. In Dean's opinion the whole, "You'll meet your soul mate" thing was just a hoax. Well, that is until he met the shy, mysterious Castiel. Dean soon finds himself scared and confused as he begins to wrestle with his demons and what he believes is right and wrong. One way or another he knew he had to figure his life out before it drove him completely insane.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Handprint (Dean)

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by @radrubberduckie on Instagram :)

January 18, that’s when it had appeared.

January 18, just six days shy of his 18th birthday.

January 18, the day when Dean Winchester's live was supposed to change.

January 18, the day when Dean finally got his marking.

That was three months ago and almost nothing had changed for him.

Surprise surprise...

It had come as a shock to everyone when he got marking. His friends were in utter disbelief when they had found out, but they had been excited that it had finally happened none the less. Even his parents had begun to believe that it would never happen. Dean could still picture their faces they day he had told them the news. It was like a candle had been lit behind their eyes, as if a hidden world of sparkling gems and cascading waterfalls had open up around them, touching everything with its beauty.

Markings were supposed to be a magical amazing time in a person’s life. A time where teens could finally start reaching for a bigger part of themselves, but Dean only saw them as annoying and very limiting.

It was typical for kids to get their marking between the ages of 14 or 15.  By the time most people hit 16 years old it was hard to find someone without a marking. When you talked to anyone 18 or older, finding someone without a marking was literally impossible. Everyone got theirs before age 18. That’s just the way it worked. They always appeared before a teens 18th birthday. No one knew why, but that was just how it worked.

May 15, that was the day when Sammy got his, just a few days after his 14th birthday. He was perfectly on track with where he should be for a kid at his age.

Dean knew he was always going to remember that moment day as he looked down at Sam’s face, the soft lines of a child’s face half way between hardening into the solid lines of a lanky teenager, as his little brother beamed and proudly showed off his marking to everyone.

However, as soon as Sam got his marking everyone forgot about Dean getting his. Not that he cared anyways, he preferred less attention. That just meant there were less people he had to deal with.

Dean sat back and wiped the sweat from his brow. A soft golden light was glinting off the hood of the beautiful silver 2013 Mustang that had been brought into the shop a few hours earlier. He wasn’t really one for newer cars, but damn was this a nice machine.

Dean smiled softly to himself as he took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of grease, oil, and rubber. This was a smell that he would never get sick of. This smell had become his life, the meaning of his whole existence.

_Singer’s Auto Shop_

This garage felt like Dean's real home. Here is where he felt like he belonged.

Dirty hands, grimy fingers, and sweat from a long day at work under a car hood.

It had been nearly two years since the owner, Bobby Singer, had hired him. When Dean had initially started working here he had simply wanted a summer job, a little extra cash in his pockets, and a cheaper alternative for keeping his own car in working order. However, it wasn’t long before Dean quickly discovered that he loved working on cars more than he originally thought he would. He knew that this was where his heart truly belonged.

Lost in his own thoughts, Dean absentmindedly he scratched at his shoulder with his grease covered hands.

As his fingers brushed across the tanned skin beneath the shirt Dean felt a strange tingling sensation across his body. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly unsure of what it meant. What was truly confusing to Dean was the fact that recently this same strange tingling sensation seemed to happen whenever he brushed against the marking. It was slowly becoming much more common for him in recent days.

That very spot on his arm was the fateful area where Dean had received his marking.

Dean hated his marking.

It was stupid, ridiculous and pointless. It didn’t even make any fucking sense!

He marking was a single, solid hand print that seemed to be branded into his skin. No matter what he did he couldn't make the mark go away or fade. He just wished that it didn't exist at all. It was worthless.

Bitterly he thought of what it was supposed to mean when you finally got you mark.

The marks, or tattoos as some people liked to call them, were symbols, shapes, or even pictures that appeared on a person’s skin. They could literally appear anywhere, on any part of your body. There was no rhythm or reason to them they just  _happened._ Sometimes they were simple and appeared as a name; other times they depicted a full blown picture. Sometimes the marks seemed almost pointless until the day all the pieces were finally put together.

According to all the stories these marks were supposed to lead each and every person to their one true soul mate. That's why everyone had one. Each marking was destined to lead its owner to the one person in the world who completed you like no other.

Based on the stories that all children learned in school, this whole ‘soul mate’ thing fell back onto an old Greek theory. According to the legend, it is said that long ago people once had four arms, four legs, and two heads, but the god Zeus was afraid of these pairs becoming too powerful so he split them apart and condemned them to search for their soul mate for the rest of their lives.

Since then the story had been changed by various religions and governments all across the world so that it could be modeled to fit the circumstances and ideology of today's society.

This was one of the few stories and lessons that Dean actually remembered learning way back in middle school. The only reason he had even remembered it in the first place was because it was usually told over and over again by his friends, parents, and teachers who actually believed in this crap.

He could clearly remember thinking,  _'How the hell do people even believe in this kind of shit?'_ over and over again.

Still, even years later Dean refused to believe them. He refused to see even a grain of truth in these fucked up lies.

_'There is no such thing as soul mates'_ Dean would often tell people who approached him with wide eyes as they babbled on about their so called partner forever.

Many people failed the read into their marking properly and would often end their relationships in disappointment when they realized that they hadn't found  _'the one’._ This is why Dean found the whole soul mate shit completely ridiculous. They would end breaking off a perfectly good relationship with someone just because they realize that the person they were with _‘wasn’t the right person for them’._

You could literally get the marking to mean anything if you set your mind to it. If he thought about it, Dean could seriously come up with at least ten fake situations for his marking to fit into if he wanted to get into a relationship with someone. Not that he wanted that.

Dean hated that everyone around him seemed so infatuated with this idea of soul mates! There was so much more to life than that, but a lot of people often failed to remember that.

Even his parents spouted off this impossible soul mate crap any chance they got.

They claimed that they were without doubt perfect soul mates. Not that Dean didn't doubt his parents weren't great for each other, he just didn't believe in that line of  _'they’re my other half and make me complete'_ shit. They were just a good match for each other and that’s all. There was no hoodoo, mojo, fairy dust magical shit involved, just flat out plain and simple love.

Dean remembered asking his parents when he was little what their markings were and how they  _knew_ that what they had between them was right.

Every time Dean would asked this, his mother would get a dreamy look in her eyes and his father would get this little dazed smile on his face.

Then his mother, Mary would launch off into a story about how she had met John just a few weeks before he was shipped off to Vietnam to fight in the war. Mary had told Dean that when her and John had first met they were able to talk for hours on end. She had said that with him, she was the happiest she had been in years.

Then soon began to date and grow even closer. Then that fatefully day when John was sent off fight, Mary waited for him to return, certain that he would make it back to her.

Like she had predicted, John had come back alive. Not long after that the two of them ended up getting married and well that how he and Sam eventually came around. Dean would always laugh bitterly to himself at how perfect and lovely their little romance story sounded. It was more like something torn directly out of a book rather than something that actually happened in real life.

After Mary would finish up the story Dean would usually ask her how this related to the marking that everyone got. (Yes, he had been a rather curious nosy child at times and always asked way too many questions.)

Mary would then lower the collar of her shirt to reveal her marking; it was tiny, located just beneath her left collar bone. The little image was what appeared to be military dog tags. She would then say that she always knew she was meant to be with a brave, strong hearted soldier. At this Dean would typically ask, "But how did you know dad was the one? Do you know how many people went over to the war during that time?"

That was usually when John would chime in and lift up the bottom corner of his shirt to reveal a tiny little silver angel marking on his side. This was often followed up with John saying, "The moment I saw you mother I had thought she was an angel that had fallen from heaven."

That was usually about all Dean could get from his parents so he eventually stopped asking questions and let the topic drop.

When his parents weren’t trying to convince him that soul mates were real, Sam would step in and fill in the spaces. Sam always tried to convince him that something like this couldn't just be faked! It was far too widespread for it to be scientifically logical. The fucking nerd always trying to bring science into everything.

However, Dean would usually just tell Sam, "People will believe anything if you tell them the same story long enough. Eventually they will force themselves to believe that what they have is real just so they feel like their fitting in with what's normal."

Sam would often just roll his eyes and walked away before Dean could finish. His brother still believed in all that lovey dovey crap. Well, let him have his innocence then...

Dean also accredited his rejection of the whole soul mate ordeal to his reluctance to put into a committed relationship. He personally preferred a nice smooth one night stand with some chick he wouldn't remember the name or face of in the morning.

It was easier that way.

Hell, he was only fifteen when he scored his first chick.

At this time Dean of course still didn't have his marking and hers was like a starry sky or some shit like that, so Dean had borrowed his dad's Impala (Well... more like stole it for a couple of hours... but he never got caught for it... and besides, John ended up giving Dean the Impala for his sixteenth birthday a few weeks later anyways) and taken her out to an open field to bang her in the back seat.

Dean could easily say that it was the best night of his life. He would never forget that night, though it wasn’t like he remembered the girls name or anything. It was more like just the experience itself.

After that his life turned into a long drawn out mission to see how many other women were willing to hook up with him. He longed for the heat and lustful feeling he got from being inside of someone else’s body.

At first getting laid was easy, especially if any of the girl he was trying to get with hadn't gotten their marking yet, but as the years of high school went on Dean found that became increasingly difficult to find people who would sleep with him. He blamed it on the fact that more and more of the chicks he met started believing in that stupid as soul mate crap. Sure, kids in high school still usually dated the other kids just to get a feel for it and such. That wasn’t no big deal, but they were all looking for long term relationships.

Dean wasn’t going for that. No thank you.

However, as of right now Dean wouldn’t be complaining about a long term relationship, he literally felt like he was on the edge. It had been a good two months since his last lay and he was literally climbing up the walls. He was going to lose his mind if he didn’t get with a chick soon.

People just didn't do one night stands as they got older. The older a chick got the more they believed that they were going to find that one magical other half.

_'Fucking Dumb asses are wasting their lives looking for something that doesn't exist.'_ Dean thought to himself bitterly. They’re missing out on so much.

"How’s that car coming boy?" Came Bobby's voice, booming loudly from across the garage.

_‘I wish I was coming right now.’_ Dean thought to himself bitterly as he winced slightly. He had to use his hand to carefully push down on his crotch, where he was half hard in his pants from thinking about getting laid. That was how much he needed to get off. It was becoming a daily distraction and problem that jerking off just couldn’t solve anymore.

"Not too bad!" Dean called back as he composed himself and forced his mind elsewhere hoping that his half hard on would pass by quickly. He slowly let his eyes trail down to the shining machine in front of him.

It was defiantly a beautiful car, well kept by its owner, with a clean engine and nice paint job, but it was nowhere near as good as his own baby. "I'm just about finished with her. Gonna take her out for a spin in the parking lot real quick just to make sure everything sounds like it’s in working order."

Dean often liked to take a quick drive in the cars that he was given to fix. Not only did it help to ensure that he had put everything back together properly, but it also gave him a chance to take a small drive in a car other than the Impala.

"Alright, well hurry back son, I've got another car here for you to look at before you leave tonight." Bobby said as he turned and walked off somewhere else in the large auto garage.

"Yes Sir!" Dean called after him as he began searching for the keys. He quickly pressed down on his crotch once again, as his erection slowly went away. As he did this, Dean briefly glanced at the clock hanging on the wall in his work station. It was nearly five, which was the time that Dean typically got off of work, but it wasn't unusual for him to stay later and work long into the hours of night. However, today was not going to be one of those late night jobs. Dean just wanted to go home and relax.

Part of the reason he liked staying so late at work was because machines were just easier to deal with than people were. Cars could _always_ be fixed. Yeah they might get mad a fuss at you some, but in the end Dean could always count on them being working and happy by the time he sent the machine back off on its way.

People weren't always that easy. They complained, the whined, they hardly ever listened, and some of them just totally lost their cool when they're pissed off. Especially the women. They were the most complicated, and still to this day Dean had no idea how women’s minds worked. All women were just way too confusing. Well, aside from his mother. She was the most happy, sweet, easy going woman he had met. He often wished that all women were like that. Dean could remember some of the women he meet in the past. He had been cussed out by women on multiple occasions. Dean even had a few object chucked at his head every now and then. Thank God he was a fast runner.

Dean began to hum AC-DC to himself as he quickly grabbed a plastic seat cover and tossed it carefully over the seat, making sure that no part of himself was actually going to touch the material beneath it. The last thing Dean wanted to do was to accidentally fuck up the interior of the car and be charged for leaving grease or oil on the seats. Stupid damage like that would be pulled directly from his paycheck, which was the last thing Dean wanted to happen.

When he was sure that he wasn’t going to mess anything up Dean clambered into the driver’s seat and turned on the engine.

If there was one thing that Dean liked just as much as getting laid, it was the sound of a clean starting engine. He loved listening to the silent purring ones or the loud roaring sounds that different cars would make. It was like Dean’s miniature heaven on earth.

He carefully eased the car out of the garage, testing the gas and the breaks to get a feel for them as he rolled out into the twilight outside.

Dean desperately wanted to crank up the radio, roll the windows down and tear off down the road, but he knew that was an absolute no no. Bobby would probably actually fire him if he did that. There wasn’t much that would get him fired, but Dean was sure that would be of those kinda things.

Instead, Dean settled for a careful, slow drive around the parking lot, taking her back and forth a few times as he listened for any sounds that would indicate further problems. When Dean decided that everything seemed to be in working order he drove into a side garage where they kept all the fixed cars until their owners came to pick them up.

Dean knew he was going to end up spending part of his night writing up a report for the car that he’d have to hand in tomorrow morning, but it wasn’t too difficult. He could have explained the problem with his eyes closed. His report would probably take thirty minutes, max.

When he walked into the auto shop through the main doors he found a very bored looking Benny sitting behind the desk with a blank expression on his face.

When Dean leaned over the counter and set the keys to the fixed car on the counter Benny looked up and said, “Hey Chief, you checking out for the day?”

Dean smiled and shook his head, “Nah, Bobby wants me to check one other car out then I’m gonna bale. Probably just gonna work on it in the morning though. I’m pretty tired today.”

“Don’t tire yourself out brother.” Benny warned him as he took the keys and placed them in the key draw under the desk. “I can’t have my boy breaking down on me from lack of sleep.”

Dean waved his hand dismissively and said, “Don’t worry about me Benny. I’m fine. Always am, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but ya know, sometimes it’s hard to tell with you.” Benny said with genuine concern in his eyes.

Dean decided to pass the moment off as a joke by saying, “Come on Benny, no chick flick moments. Just get back to playing mine sweeper would ya?”

Benny’s forehead wrinkled in confusion as he asked, “How did you-”

“Come on Benny, you don’t look like you’re doing much of anything and well, frankly, I can see the computer screen reflecting off of that picture behind you.” Dean explained with an amused smirk on his face.

Benny quickly turned around to see what Dean was talking about before facing him again and laughing as he said, “Damn Winchester, you don’t miss a thing.”

“Just don’t let Bobby catch you.” Dean advised Benny.

“Come on Brother, you think I’m dumb? He’d tear me a new one if he found out.”

Dean couldn’t help but laugh in agreement before asking, “Hey, do you actually know where Bobby went off to? I need to figure out what car he wants me to take a look at.”

“Yeah, he went off that way not to long ago.” Benny said as he pointed towards the side door that lead into the main garage.

“Thank Benny.” Dean said with a smile. “See ya tomorrow.”

“Bright and early brother.” Benny said back with a quick wave of his hand.

Dean quickly walked into the garage, letting the warm air hit him and pull him in deeper. After a few minutes he finally found Bobby as he rummaged through one of the dozen or so tool boxes that were placed in various locations around the garage.

“Hey Bobby.” Dean called, being sure to keep his distance incase Bobby ended up chucking a wrench at him or something.

It had happened in the past. Dean walking into a room and accidentally scaring Bobby, which usually ended up with him accidentally throwing whatever was in his hands in Dean’s general direction.

Once again, Dean was grateful for his speed, and quick reaction time.

“Jesus Boy!” Bobby gasped, whirling around to face Dean. Fortunately for Dean, Bobby didn’t have anything in his hands at the moment so he didn’t have to duck out of the way.

“Sorry ‘bout that Bobby.” Dean said as a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

“We need to get you a damn bell to wear around your neck or something.” Bobby grumbled grumpily under his breath. “You’re way too quiet.”

“Maybe you’re just deaf.” Dean joked.

That earned him a sour look from Bobby, so Dean just laughed and asked, “Which car did you want me to take a look at?”

Bobby shook his head chuckling a little at Dean as he said, “Over here, I think it need a new oil filer and maybe some more radiator fluid, but I just need you to check it out for me real quick.”

“Aright, that doesn’t sound too hard.” Dean said as he walked over to the car.

“Yeah, nothing to serious tonight.” Bobby said as he went back to digging in the tool chest. “Don’t worry about fixing her up though. Just get it done in the morning. I’m sure you’re tired.”

Dean lifted up the hood and began to check for problems as he said, “Yeah, I am pretty tired. I’m really looking forward to a hot shower and a soft bed.”

“I hear ya.” Bobby said in agreement.

There was a calm silence between the two of them as Dean tinkered around in the car, and Bobby shuffled around the garage, cleaning up and putting things back on the right shelves.

After a few minutes Dean leaned further into the car’s hood and called out, “Hey, Bobby.”

“Hmm?” Bobby hummed in acknowledgement.

“I think the radiator is actually leaking.” Dean said as he reached down and touched a shiny looking substance that was coating the radiator hose.

“Well that would explain why the guy was complaining about the fluid being low.” Bobby said gruffly. “Wouldn’t shut up about how he had checked everything and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I think he was expecting me to give him some kinda refund for his car or something. I ain’t the goddamn dealership, the fucking idjit…”

Dean laughed as he stood up an grabbed a rag to wipe the radiator fluid off of his hands. “How are people so fucking stupid?” Dean asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I’m not really sure, but they seem to get dumber and dumber every generation.” Bobby scoffed.

“I think you’re right…” Dean said, agreeing with Bobby as he tossed the dirty rag aside and closed the hood of the car.

 “You heading out for the night son?” Bobby asked when Dean stretched his arms stiffly and tried to stifle a yawn.

“Yeah, I’m out. I told my folks it would be an early night for me, so I gotta stick to that promise.”

“Well, have a good night son. Tell your old man to drop by sometime, have a beer or two together.”

“Will do Bobby.” Dean said before turning and walked towards the garage door.

Before Dean knew it he was hitting the open roads again. The trip from his house to the auto shop wasn’t a long drive, but Dean usually took the darkening back roads to make the journey longer. He genuinely loved tearing across the open roads into the setting sun.

That’s how he now found himself windows down, warm summer air blowing past his face, music blasting his favorite Metallica cassette tape (Sam would complain that they were stupid and outdated), and singing along at the top of his lungs. 

This was the life.

No real commitments outside of work and family, no one that required his constant attention. Dean wasn’t tied down to anyone or anything. He knew he could never get tired of this. He was a free man and was determined to keep it that way.

When he finally arrived home Dean found that the warm comforting smell of dinner was filling the house. Upon walking into the kitchen his eyes fell upon his wonderful mother, who was mixing something in a large metal bowl.

“Hey mom.” Dean said with a soft smile.

“Hey Dean.” Mary said brightly, her face lighting up joyously when she saw him as she put down the whisk she was using. His mom immediately walked over to him and attempted to pull him into a warm, gentle hug.

“Mom, you probably don’t wanna hug me. I’m covered in oil and probably smell like hell too.” Dean warned her.

“Aw it’s just a little grime. It’ll wash off.” Mary said lightly as she pulled him into a welcoming embrace.

This was one of the reasons why his mom was so awesome, not to mention that she gave the best hugs in the world.

“How was work sweetheart?” She asked, finally letting him go and walking back over to resume cooking.

“It was great.” Dean said cheerfully as he looked around the kitchen, sniffing the air slowly. “Got three cars back up and running.”

“That’s great darling, sounds like a really successful day.” She said smiling over at him.

“It really was!” Dean said happily as he leaned carefully against the wall. He had learned a few years ago that it was pointless to try and explain how he fixed the cars. His mother would listen attentively, but she didn’t usually understand any of it.

“What’s for dinner?” He asked after a minute of calm silence between them.

“Pot roast.” Mary told him with a happy smile on her face. “And it’s going to be ready pretty soon, so why don’t you go get washed up.”

Dean’s eyes fluttered shut and he moaned happily. His mother made the best pot roast in the entire world. She was literally the best at everything.

When Dean had recovered he looked down at himself and laughed as he said, “Yeah, I am pretty dirty aren’t I?”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” Mary joked as she began to wipe off the counters. “Now, go on, get yourself cleaned up.” She lightly hit his arm with the rag and gave him a small push towards the stairs.

Dean chuckled, kissed his mom on the top of the head and turned to run up the stairs taking them two at a time.

On the way to the bathroom Dean ran into his little brother Sam, who was sitting on his bed playing Halo on his PlayStation.

“Hey Dean!” Sam called as he ran past his room.

“What’s up Sammy.” Dean said as he back tracked and peered into his little brother’s obscenely messy room.

“Dean, stop calling me Sammy! That’s a chubby twelve year olds name, I’m fifteen now.” Sam complained still focused on the screen.

“Same thing right?” Dean teased his brother.

“Fuck you Dean.” Sam grumbled, shooting him one of his legendary _‘bitch faces’_

“Oh we’re using big boy language now are we?” Dean said. Dean knew he was just asking for Sam to come over and punch him, but sometimes messing with his brother was just too much fun. Besides, Sam was too focus on his game to do anything about it.

“Get out of here Dean!” Sam whined, glaring at him in irritation.

“Did you finish your homework yet?” Dean asked, getting serious now. He had big hopes for his brother. The nerd wanted to become a lawyer, and he was pretty damn smart when it came to school work.

Dean, who had nearly dropped out of high school, but stayed only so he wouldn’t disappoint his mother, had been a major slacker when it came to anything school related. Dean just didn’t care, he was ready to move onto bigger and better things. His grades had barely been good enough for him to pass, but somehow he still managed to make it to senior year and walk across the stage with a lazy, happy smile on his face.

Sam on the other hand was a straight ‘A’ student and one of the smartest people Dean knew, well aside from their mother.

Dean wanted to see Sam succeed in life, so he always made sure that his brother got everything he needed done. He didn’t want Sam to go to parties every weekend and have a different chick in his bed every week like he had done. Dean wanted to see his little brother make it far in life.

Dean was content with his own life choices, but by all means they were far from any footsteps he wanted to see Sammy ever follow in.

“Yes Dean, I did. Now please leave, you’re distracting me.” Sam said, gesturing towards his game.

“Whatever nerd.” Dean said, walking out of Sam’s room and adding, “Mom said dinner will be ready soon.”

“Thanks Dean.” Sam called absently after him as Dean heard the sound of Sam resuming his game once more.

When Dean reached the bathroom, his own grumbling stomach and the smell of good food in the air prompted Dean to rush through the shower in record time. Not even the itching feeling of wanted to jerk off could distract Dean from the thought of food. He could deal with that ache later on when he had more time; right now all he could think about was his mother’s amazing cooking. 

Another thing Dean loved about his mother, her uncanny knack for making the most delicious food in the world. Not to mention that her pies were to die for. The very thought of his mother’s cooking was enough make Dean’s mouth water.

That was why fifteen minutes later Dean found himself, out of the shower, down stairs with his hair still dripping wet, wearing a lose black shirt and a pair of gray sweats.

He was hoping that maybe he would be able to sneak into the kitchen and swipe some food early.

Carefully, he peered around the corner into the kitchen to see what was sitting out. Dean’s eyes instantly honed in on a fresh baked apple pie sitting on the counter to cool.

“Oh my God mom I love you so much.” Dean whispered to himself as he slipped around the corner.

His mother wasn’t currently in the kitchen so Dean was hoping that maybe he’d get a little taste of that pie without getting caught.

He was about to poke his finger into the warm pie when he heard his mother’s voice behind him say, “Are you really that impatient Dean Winchester?”

Dean flinched jumping in surprise before slowly turning around and giving his mother a sheepish smile.

“Come on Mom, you know pie is my weakness.” Dean said, trying to give her his best puppy dog eyes.

“Well, that will make it even better when you eat it _later_.” Mary told him, emphasizing the word later as she walked over to him and directed him away from the pie. “Patience is key Dean.”

“Awe, you know I’m not a patient person.” He complained, apparently his puppy dog eyes weren’t getting him very far. Damn… at least he tried.

“Then I guess this will be a good lesson for you then.” Mary told him.

“Yeah, it’ll teach me to be quicker next time I try and steal pie from the kitchen.” Dean grumbled with a sad sigh.

Mary just laughed and said, “Here, I’ll make the time pass faster, go set the table for me would you.”

Dean slumped his shoulders in defeat, and moaned, “That’s no fun.”

However, despite his complaints Dean moved over to the cabinets and quickly pulled out a stack of plates and silverware.

“You’ll live.” Mary chided him gently as he walked from the kitchen.

“No I won’t!” Dean said becoming dramatic as he exclaimed, “I’m dying from pie deprivation! It’s a serious medical condition!”

Mary laughed at shook her head at him and said, “You’re impossible Dean. Just go put those plates out please.”

Dean scrunched his nose in distaste, but finally moved to go and set the table.

To his surprised, dinner came much quicker than Dean realized. His mom was right, setting the table really did make things go faster. _‘How is she always right?’_  Dean thought to himself in wonder. _‘It has to be a mom thing…’_

Before Dean knew it, his whole family was sitting around the table and lightly discussing how their days had gone.

John ended up telling them a long winded story about an argument he overheard between two of the women in his office today. He was the CEO of a big name construction company in Lawrence and he never failed to have some strange and interesting story to tell them all when he got home.

Mary went on to tell them about her day in the medical office she worked at. She loved helping people and was a nurse at their local health clinic. She was the best nurse at her office and was often requested when people came in for visits.

Once their mother finished talking, Sam chimed in with his long winded story something him and his friend and done that day. This quickly turned into him complaining that he had run into some annoying kids at the park that he hung out at. Eventually, Sam shifted the topic back onto him and his friends, Kevin Tran and Jessica Moore.

“So when are you gonna ask Jess out?” Dean asked, cutting into his brother’s story about them wandering around in the woods behind Jessica’s house.

Dean smirked as Sam’s face flushed a deep shade of scarlet. “Shut up Dean.”

“Just saying.” Dean said with a shrug. “You two have been joined by the hip for years.”

“Well, what about you and Jo!” Sam shot, hoping to catch him off guard.

Dean’s eye brows arched up as an image of his happy, energetic best friend popped into his mind. Her sweet laugh, soft blue eyes and long golden hair flashed before his face as Dean said, “Me and Jo would make a horrible couple! We’re so alike that we would end up killing each other.”

Dean didn’t miss the glance that was exchanged between his parents but he chose to ignore it as he added, “Besides, we’ve never seen each other as more than friends. I guess you could say that she’s kinda like the little sister I never wanted.”

“Whatever you say Dean.” Sam grumbled with a rolling of his eyes.

“Does that mean you’re gonna make a move on Jess soon?” Dean pressed, bringing the conversation back to his brother.

“Mom!” Sam complained. “Make him leave me alone.”

“Aw come on Sammy, I’m just being realistic here!” Dean said, “You have to at least give her a chance! She seems like a great girl too, just right for you.”

“Dean, honey, leave you brother alone.” Mary said with a stern look at Dean from across the table.

He instantly fell silent and busied himself with his food once again. His mother’s voice had been light, but there had also been an undertone of warning in her voice that only mothers had. Dean knew that tone almost too well and found it better not to test his mother’s limits tonight.

“So, speaking of relationships Dean.” His father chimed in to break the awkward silence that had fallen around the table. “Has anyone caught your eye?”

Dean snorted as his mother looked up at him with hope in her eyes. “Nope, as of right now, my baby is the only lady I’ll ever need.”

He instantly felt bad about his response when he saw the spark in his mother’s eyes dim just a little as she looked back down at her plate of food. Dean knew that she wanted nothing more than for him to find the woman who would change his life forever.

Sam snickered and asked, “So when’s the wedding? I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if you already banged your car seeing your reputation and all.”

Dean literally began to choke on his food and spent a good minute and a half coughing and spluttering, trying to clear his airway. Meanwhile Sam was getting a very though scolding from their mother.

“Samuel Winchester!” Mary snapped a sudden fire in her eyes as she looked at her youngest son. “Is that any type of conversation for the dinner table?”

Sam hung his head in shame, but Dean could still see the smirk on his brother’s face as he said, “No ma’am.” Dean knew that this was far from over.

“Apologize to your brother.” Mary said with an intense look in Sam’s direction.

“But why! It’s the truth! Dean bangs any chick who will give him the time of day!” Sam retorted.

“Samuel.” Mary said with heated warnings in her voice.

“Awe, it’s alright, he’s just jealous that he’s too shy to get any action.” Dean teased his brother. Both boys knew they were testing the waters now.

It was like they were both walking around in an open mine field. Eventually one of them was going to make a wrong move and step on one of those mines. It was only a matter of time.

“At least I’m not a man whore like you are.” Sam goaded him with arched eyebrows.

Dean was utterly speechless at that. He grasped wildly for a comeback but was coming up blank, while his mother glared between the two of them, literally daring them to say something else.

With nothing else to say as a comeback, Dean grumbled, “You’re the man whore, man whore.”

That was enough to make Sam start to roar with laughter, going on about Dean’s never ending supply of terrible comebacks.

Meanwhile, both John and Mary were watching them with looks of disapproval on their faces, though their father seemed like he was holding back his own laughter.

“Are you done?” Mary asked in a deadly serious tone.

Both boys immediately fell silent. Even John quickly lost that look of amusement in his face. Mary now meant business. They had stepped on that landmine and if the moved another step it would explode. Their only option now was to wait until bomb control swooped in to save the day.

This was the part of his mother that he didn’t like. The serious side of their mother was one that could make a rainbow fade in the sky, or a field of flower wilt in fear. This was the side of danger that every mother could switch on with the blink of an eye.

“Yes, ma’am.” Both Sam and Dean said as they quickly began to eat again.

A strained silence quickly fell over the table and obliterated the dinnertime atmosphere, leaving behind only tension and that tiny tripwire that could explode at any moment.

Through a series of hurried looks and glances Sam and Dean caught their father’s attention and tried to prompt him to do something. He was literally one of few people who could calm Mary down in a sticky situation like this. Somehow, he always knew exactly what to say to her to make everything okay again. It was just some strange gift that their father seemed to possess. It never failed to leave Sam and Dean in awe of their parent’s strange and wonderful bond. (Though Dean still refused to accept the fact that soul mates existed)

“Mary, this roast is absolutely amazing.” John said, suddenly bubbling with happiness and energy.

Mary looked at him, breaking away from her anger trance and saying, “Thank you dear. I’m glad that you like it! I made it just the way you like it.”

Instantly, that tense mood broke and everything seemed to be back to normal.

Their father had literally swooped in and saved the day. _Thank God._

Sam and Dean exchanged quick glances with one another as John started up some work conversation with Mary.

With that glance alone Dean knew that his brother was probably thinking the same thing. They had literally just dodged a bullet on that one. They also knew that John was gonna make them pay for that one. Whenever the two of them fucked up like that, John would put them to work for a day. He would leave them a long list of things they had to finish up around the house. It was always exhausting work and never failed to leave them both tuckered out by the end of the day.

Somehow, the rest of dinner was able to pass by smoothly, with the four of them falling into easy conversations once again. Neither Sam nor Dean was dumb enough to try something like that again. Well, at least not tonight anyways. They would save the sibling torment for another day.

As they all talked casually, Dean couldn’t help but fade off into his own world as he quickly got bored with the dinner conversation. His mind soon drifted off to his need to get laid. That thought was a mistake as he soon became half hard in his pants once again. It was just a really distracting subject, he seriously needed to get laid, and soon. The mark on his arm began to itch slightly as he thought about it.

Absently he reached up and scratched lightly at his shoulder, as he tried to quiet the party going on in his pants. His mind soon drifted off to the nameless faceless women he had banged over the years. Ever since he had turned eighteen and gotten his marking he had noticed that there seemed to be a lot less women around. He partly contributed that to the fact that he was no longer in high school and currently worked at an auto shop that had absolutely no female employees.

On the other hand, he did go to a lot of local house parties that some of the other recent graduates had thrown over the summer. In fact, he, Benny, and Jo were all planning on getting together and crashing one of these parties after work tomorrow evening.

Even despite all this time at these giant parties, Dean had somehow still found women much harder to seduce and win over with his good looks.

The last person he remembered hooking up with was some red headed chick that used to be in a few of his classes. Her name was like, Ann, or Anna… something like that, and he hooked up with her the month before after a wild party and Michaels.

When Dean thought back on that night he could only remember a few things. He remembered that he was pretty drunk so even the clearer thoughts were kinda blurry. However, the one thing remembered better than anything else was when the red head reached up and clutched his shoulder tightly. It was like she was measuring her hand print up to the one that was permanently burned into his arm.

Honestly, Dean had been way too drunk and lost in the moment to know, or care if the handprint had even matched. He hadn’t ever really even thought about that until now.

 In fact, when he though back on it, just about every woman that he had banged since he got his marking had done that to him. They all seemed to size their own hands up with the print on his shoulder. Dean supposed that they all hoped the marking would match their own hands. Clearly they had all been disappointed since none of them said anything about it.   

While Dean tried to make sense of this thought, he was suddenly distracted by his mother as she asked him if he wanted a slice of pie.

Feeling like he had been just pulled from a giant tub of water Dean faintly heard himself agreeing to a slice of pie. After a few minutes, Dean faintly heard his mother ask him if he was alright.

This quickly pulled Dean back into his surroundings as he hurriedly shook off the strange feeling and tried to act like nothing had just happened.

Dean gave his mother one of his cheeriest, brightest smiles and said, “Yeah! I’m great! Just a little tire is all. You know, long day.”

Mary nodded slowly, but didn’t press the subject. Dean could tell by the small purse of her lips that she didn’t really believe him, but he ignored it and went on to engage himself in a conversation about cars with Sam.

When his mother brought out pie for everyone Dean ate his in record time. His mind was too distracted to really savor the food he was eating. Normally, he took his time when he ate his mother’s apple pie because it never lasted very long in this household. However, Dean began to realize that he just felt kinda off... This feeling hadn’t even really hit him until dinner.

Maybe it was because of what Sam said about him being with so many women. Maybe he was just tired of letting his mom down when it came to relationships. Hell, maybe it was just because he needed to get laid. He was a grown man in his prime after all. He had needs that needed to be attended too.

In a deep part of Dean’s mind a small voice whispered, _‘What if you actually want a relationship with someone? Do you wanna be a single mechanic living with your parents for the rest of your life?’_

As soon as that though popped into Dean’s mind he crushed it and threw it to the side in a crumpled mess. He did _not_ need to worry about a relationship with someone. He was perfectly happy the way he was. Besides, he was only eighteen. There was no rush to move out or get a girlfriend yet.

_‘Uh… I need to get fucking laid.’_ Dean thought to himself as slight panic began to form at the edge of his mind. _‘This lack of sex is starting to twist my mind...’_

Not long after that dinner was finally dismissed and Dean excused himself to his room while Sam helped his mother with the dishes.

One he disappeared into his bedroom Dean quietly jerked himself off before clambering into bed. He was much too tired and overwhelmed to do much else.

He prayed that he would be able to find someone to bang at that party tomorrow. He seriously needed to blow off some steam. Dean was sure a good lay was exactly what he needed to make everything better.

With that, Dean soon drifted off into a deep, restless slumber, hoping that tomorrow would finally bring some kind of action and adventure into his flat, uneventful life.


	2. Parties (Cas)

"Come on Cas! Stop being such a whiny little baby in a trench coat and get out once and a while!" Gabriel complained as Cas tried to concentrate on the book in his hands.

"Gabriel, you know that I hate parties. There are too many people. Besides they’re all _your_ friends anyways." Cas said with a roll of his eyes.

"So!" Gabriel retorted before waggling his eyes and saying, "Come on... there's gonna be a lotta hot chicks there dude!"

Cas sighed and stayed silent. Gabriel was always thinking about women…

"Cas, seriously you might meet _the one_ while you’re there. You're never gonna find the person you're destined to be with if you stay inside all day."

Cas gave his brother a serious look as he said, "Right now my soulmates are named, food, reading and Netflix… And If I’m destined to meet someone won't it happen regardless? I mean think about it, I could be babysitting some kids, order some pizza and fall for the pizza man for God’s sake!” Cas paused before adding, “Besides if my soulmate is at one of your parties than I don't wanna meet them until they’ve gotten more common sense in their head."

Gabriel gave him a strange look and asked, “The pizza man? What the hell?”

“Yeah! Why not!” Cas grumbled looking back at his book. “I’m not going to this stupid party.”

"Cas, dude, don't be like that. You're gonna miss out on your entire young adult life if you don't go anywhere. Then by the time you realize you should have done more things it will be too late." It was clear that Gabriel was very determined.

"I'll live." Cas mumbled, trying to focus on the words of his book.

"Please!" Gabriel begged. His brother’s voice was a one hell of a distraction, especially when he wanted something.

Cas all but slammed down his book and glared at his brother as he exclaimed, "Why? So you can get drunk, find some drunk chick to bring home, end up forgetting about me and leaving me to walk home alone?"

Gabriel opened his mouth in shock before shutting it a second later.

Cas nodded, that was all he needed to know. He then picked up his book and resumed reading.

"Listen; just come with me this one last time. I swear I won't leave you okay?" Gabriel said after a few minutes of silence.

Cas closed his eyes and set down his book again. After a second he looked up at Gabriel as asked, “Why do you want me to go so badly?”

“Because I’m tired of seeing you all vampired up in the house by yourself all the time! You’re gonna die from lack of social interaction!” Gabriel insisted.

“Well I’ve lasted 18 years with very little social interaction. I don’t think a few more days will kill me.”

“When is the last time you’ve gone out and seen the sun Cas?”

“Yesterday… when I got the mail. It was hot, and the sun was still shining. It was really bright and I learned that apparently the outside world still exists and life goes on as normal while I hide away inside.”

Gabriel rolled his eye and snorted as he said, “Why did I ever teach you sarcasm?”

Cas smirked and started reading again. Maybe he had shut Gabriel up this time. However, only moments later Gabriel asked, “Soooo… will you come?”

"Will it make you shut the hell up?" Cas asked with a strong glare at his older brother.

"Fuck yeah it will!" Gabe exclaimed as a bright smile started to light up his face.

Cas let out a loud sigh of defeat and grumbled, "You better not leave my ass there you prick."

"I won't let ya down Cassie!" Gabriel exclaimed as he bounded out of the room.

_'Fucking College parties…How the hell was any college dumbenoughtoletGabrielin anyways?'_ Cas thought as he simply rolled his eyes and looked back at his book. To be honest Cas almost didn’t remember what he was reading anymore or where he had even left off. Cas was pretty sure that he had flipped through the last four or five pages without even reading the words printed on the pages.

Now that Gabriel was gone, Cas hoped that to would be easier to read this time. Unfortunately that was not the case as he now found his thought drifting elsewhere.  Since he had already skipped so many pages he could no longer get his eye to focus on the inky printed words on soft paper pages.

With his eyes staring blankly at the current page, Castiel slowly began to run his fingers along the darkened skin on his right wrist. He carefully traced the outline of a tattoo that had been there for years.

There on his wrist was the darkened outline of a fifty something year old car. Cas was sure that he would be able to draw that same car with his eyes closed just by the amount of time he had spent staring at the machine on his wrist.

Cas had no idea what type of car was on his wrist, but he was sure that it was old. He just hoped it didn’t mean his soulmate was some eighty year old person. That would be horrible. He hoped that his soulmate was at least in the same age range as he way.

Cas had only been 12 when his marking had showed up. Getting one at a young age like that was rare. Everyone knew that, but no one really had much of an explanation for why some peoples showed up earlier or later than others. However, one of the most common theories was that the markings appeared with maturity levels as well as ages. It kinda made sense for Cas because he had always been pretty mature for his age.

It was also said that the younger a person got their markings, the more confident fate was about who their soulmate was. When people get them later on in life, it was said that they had a restless heart and their markings only appeared when they absolutely had to. Some people weren’t always ready to get their marking so it showed up at the last possible moments.  

Cas knew the theories. But then again, who didn't?

The whole science-y reason that was always put into children's brains was that the markings came with puberty, but that just didn’t sound quite as romantic. Cas liked to stick the romantic sounding theories.

To be honest, Cas was infatuated with the thought of one day meeting his soulmate.

He was the true definition of _'waitingfortherightone'._

Cas was 18 years old and never slept with anyone. He had never dated anyone. Hell, he hasn't even had his first kiss yet. Castiel’s mind was set on saving everything for his soulmate. He wanted it to be perfect and special.

That's not to say that he hadn't seen a few people who had caught his eye. He had definitely seen more than a few people who he really hoped would be the one, but every time Cas was simply left disappointed. None of those people ever turned out to be who he had hoped they were.

One thing that terrified Cas about the whole soulmate business was the fact that every paired couple he had ever come across had been straight and well... Cas was anything but that. Cas had no idea if homosexual soulmates existed. He could honestly say that he had never felt any kind of sexual attraction to women in his life. Yes, Cas knew when an exceptionally attractive woman walked by. He wasn't fucking blind, but Cas simply just didn't have any interest in them.

Typically, anyone in society who he had ever heard about in a homosexual relationship was looked down upon and shunned by everyone else. No one believed that two people of the same gender could possibly be soulmates. It was totally illogical to everyone.

_EveryoneexceptforCas._

It wasn’t often to find a homosexual couple, but Cas was sure that they were out there somewhere just keeping a low profile.

Normal people believed thathomosexualpeople were sick and confused. Though it was completely illegal to do anything harmful or cruel against homosexual people, they were still looked down upon by society. This was the reason why Cas never came out of the closet. Not even to Gabriel. He was sure his brother would understand and not be judgmental about it, but just the shame of this feeling weighed Cas down. He didn’t want people to look at him any differently just because of who he chose to love.

So, alone in the world of silence Castiel was left to long for his perfect boy while his eyes followed after the figures of attractive guys walking past him.

Part of Cas wanted to find his soulmate in the most romantic way (though he still hadn’t decided what that perfect scenario would be), while other times he just wished that he would be paired as soon as possible so he'd stop having to spend his whole life worried about it. Cas just wanted to finally find _theone,_ so he could finally be happy. This soulmate business was enough to stress out anyone and make them question everything they had ever known.

Cas had spent his whole high school life waiting to find someone who would catch his eye. However, by the end of high school Cas was still waiting much to his disappointment. After high school ended, Cas had decided that he was going to wait a year before heading off to college. During school Cas had buried himself in his lessons due to his lack of popularity, friends and social skills, so he had quickly risen to one the top kids in his school. Cas just wanted a short break from all of that before heading off to medical school to pursue his dream career of being a doctor.

Now that summer was here the days seemed to pass by quickly for Cas. Far too quickly if you asked him. He had lost track of the days while various events began to just blend together, but then again that was how summer was supposed to be.

Cas looked up at the clock and saw that it was starting to get late. That just meant that it was getting closer to that party he had stupidly agreed to attend.

Cas sighed and shook his head. He still wished he hadn’t agreed to go, but he couldn’t change his mind now. So Cas simply shook off his deep thoughts and finally turned back to his book.

          ~~~

"Are you going like that?" Gabriel asked, walking into Castiel's room a few hours later.

Cas looked down at himself and blushed. He only now realized that he was still wearing his pajamas, because he hadn’t really needed to get dressed today. Cas had literally woken up at nine thirty, took a shower, and put his pajamas back on. That was the story of his life, he never got dressed unless he had too.

Cas shrugged and said, "No, I suppose not..."

"Well then you better get changed pretty soon bucco. We're leaving in half an hour.

Cas looked at the time with wide eyes. He couldn't believe how fast the day had gone by. He had literally spent 90% of the day in his room, reading and watching Netflix.

"Do I have to go?" Cas grumbled, falling back on the bed.

"You promised Cassie." Gabe insisted.

Cas groaned and rolled off his bed. "Get out. I need to change."

Gabe beamed and said, "That's the spirit."

"Fuck off." Cas mumbled as he pushed Gabriel from the room, being sure to shut and lock the door behind him. There had been far too many times when Gabriel had simply walked into his room without knocking as he changed. It never seemed to bother his brother, but Cas being as shy as he was, would be left blushing for hours.

  
The worst was when Gabe had a girl with him and barged into his room without warning, just so he could send Cas out of the house for a few hours.

That was one of the few downsides he faced by living with his older brother.  
But Cas much rather preferred living with Gabriel than with his parents.

His parents had been way overbearing and super religious. When Gabriel was old enough to move out he immediately offered to let Cas come with him. Cas had been more than happy to accept the offer and move out of his parents’ home.

They had been the typical (well maybe not so typical) Christen family. They had all attended Church every Sunday, youth group on Wednesdays, and prayed before bedtime and meals. Their parents went while nine yards with it.  They had even gone on mission trips out of the country. Cas always had a theory that his parents and Michael just buried themselves in religion to justify their judgmental, stuck up, asshole-ish ways. He knew that not all Christens were super judgmental like that, it was mostly just his own family.

Unlike their parents, neither Gabriel nor Cas had really accepted the religion that their parents had crammed down their throat basically every day.  It was probably due to the fact that their parents had never given them the option to _not_ believe in God, so it was kinda like their own special little way of rebelling against them silently. Their eldest brother Michael on the other hand, was just as over the top religious as their parents were. It had always been that way for them. He apparently saw no reason not to follow in the same faith as their parents. Thus he also picked up the same asshole-ish ways as them.

To be completely honest, Cas thought Michael was an absolutely horrible brother. Michael had hated Cas from the moment he was born and he never let him forget it. Cas wasn't even sure why Michael hated him, his brother was just always mean to him. It was like he could sense the gay in him. Maybe Michael knew that there was something impure and unholy inside of him and wanted nothing to do with it. Religious people seemed to hate homosexuals even more than just the average person, but that’s how it had always been and Cas was used to it. He remembered the longwinded rants his parents would get on if they even heard the word gay. They would lecture Cas, Gabriel and Michael on how wrong and unnatural the whole thing was. Gabe and Cas usually tuned their parents out while Michael latched onto their every word.

No matter how many times his parents took him to church and crammed religion down his throat, Cas still never believed. He just didn't really see the point in religion. All Cas needed was his belief in soulmates. Religion could kick his ass for all Cas cared.

Though he felt very strongly in his own beliefs, Cas never voiced his opinions. His parents were none the wiser to Castiel's opposition against religion; it was only Michael who just seemed to know the truth. Gabriel however, always made his standing clear on religion and it would piss their parents off more and more each time. Cas assumed that was why Michael had literally been kicked out two days after his 18th birthday three years ago. His parents had just grown tired of their _‘out of control’_ middle son.

Since Michael hated Cas it was only logical that Gabriel would be Michael's best friend. Cas had figured that it was typical for the youngest to always get babied by the parents and picked on by the other siblings right?

Well, that couldn't have been further from the truth. Michael was his parents favorite, Gabriel had a hard time tolerating Michael, and Gabriel _loved_ Cas. Cas was Gabriel’s favorite person in the family. His brother literally did anything he could for him (while somehow still annoying the shit out of him in the process).

Gabriel would often pull pranks on their older brother just to make Cas laugh and smile.

So, like I said, he wasn't the worst brother ever, but he could be hard to live with at times.

Like that time Cas had accidentally fallen out of a canoe on a family camping trip. A few hours later Cas had found out the hard way that Gabe had slipped a dead stinky ass fish in his sleeping bag later on in the evening just to tease him.

Cas had retaliated by stealing Gabriel sleeping bag after that and refusing to give it back since there was no way in hell that he was going to be sleeping in a sleeping bag that had a dead fish in it.

Gabriel could definitely be a handful at times and sometime Cas realized that he was more mature and responsible than his older brother, but he loved Gabriel all the same.

Cas smirked slightly as he walked towards his closet, but the smile faded once he opened the doors. He was the worst picker of clothes. It took him ages to find something to wear. Sometimes he thought he was worse than a girl (even Gabriel had told him that before).

  _‘I should have done this like an hour ago…’_ Cas thought to himself in irritation. _‘Only have like half an hour to get ready. Fuck…’_

After at least five rejected outfit Cas finally decided on a pair of tight black skinny jeans, a dark grey button up and his favorite tan trench coat. As an afterthought Cas grabbed his lucky dark blue tie and put it on. He kept the tie loose so he wouldn’t seem too uptight, but would appear more cool and collected. At least that’s what Cas hoped he looked like.

With probably only about ten minutes left to spare, Cas raced into the bathroom and tried to calm his wild untamable hair. It was sticking up everywhere and drove Cas nuts, but there really wasn’t any time to fix it, so he just ran his fingers thought the dark mess a few times to clean it up a little.

Just as he finished hurriedly brushing his teeth Cas heard Gabe calling to him and threatening to drag him to the party by his feet if he had to.

Cas rushed from the room and quickly put on his dark black vans and grabbed his wallet and phone from the kitchen counter.

“I think I’m ready.” Cas said, throwing his arms wide to show off his look to Gabriel.

“Always with the damn tie and trench coat.” Gabriel said with a little laugh and he gave Cas a pensive up and down look of speculation. “Eh… it will do. Let’s go.”

Cas looked down at his outfit with a smirk on his face. Gabriel never could seem to understand Castiel’s obsession with his trench coat and tie, frankly, Cas didn’t really understand it either. He just felt like the outfit fit his personality nicely.

After a second, Castiel leapt into action and bounded out the door after his brother with a strange new excitement in his step. His heart was pounding and his heart seemed to be racing. Cas wasn’t sure why, but something about tonight felt different. Maybe it was just because he hadn’t been out at an actual social event in so long or maybe it was just Gabriel’s always upbeat attitude becoming infectious.

 “So, whose party is this anyways?” Cas asked as he jumped into the passenger seat of Gabriel’s car.

“One of the popular jocks on the baseball team.” Gabriel said as he looked in the mirror and started fixing his hair.

“Are you expecting someone?” Cas pressed, when he caught sight of his brother’s actions.

Gabriel stopped what he was doing immediately and acted like nothing had happened as he fumbled to start the car. “No.” He said crisply. “Why?”

“You just seem nervous.” Cas explained. “You’re never nervous.”

Gabriel pursed his lips and stayed silent.

“So, who is she?” Cas pressed as they drove down the street.

“No one.” Gabriel said as a red flush creeped up his cheeks.

“Oh, shit you must really like her if she’s making you blush!” Cas exclaimed. “Is she _the one?”_

Gabriel gave Cas a sidelong glance before saying, “No she’s not _the one._  I just like her okay and I wanna score with her too. Okay? Now bug off.”

“Nuh uh, you’re making me come to this damn party so I at least deserve to know her name.” Cas said with a pout as he latched his hands onto Gabriel’s arms.

“Come on!” Gabriel complained, “Get the fuck off me, would ya? Fine I’ll tell you.”

Happy with Gabriel’s answer, Cas let himself be shaken off his brothers arm.

“I should have just had you stay home.” Gabriel grumbled.

“I tried to stay home remember.” Cas snorted in exasperation.

“Yeah, that was before I realized that you were gonna be an annoying little shit.”

Cas snickered and asked again, “So, her name… what is it?”

“Her name is Ruby okay. Ruby… she’s a blonde.” Gabriel mumbled softly.

The moment Cas heard the name he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or be revolted.

“Ruby, as in the blonde bimbo, bitchy slut Ruby from school?” Cas asked a tone of disbelief in his voice.

“She’s nice…” Gabriel insisted.

“No, she’s really not and she has slept with practically every guy at school. I wouldn’t be surprised if she even tried a few of the chicks on for size when she got bored of guys.”

“Cas I’m sure those were-”

“They weren’t rumors Gabe, she’s even tried coming onto me. She’s not one of those chicks who actually cares about finding her soulmate or anything. She basically just looks for people to fuck.”

“Well maybe I like that. Maybe we’re just friends… with benefits…” Gabriel grumbled.

“Didn’t sound like you thought of it that way…” Cas hummed back.

“You’re a douche Cas…” Gabriel said with a distasteful look on his face. “Who knows, I could have changed her.”

Cas shrugged and decided to just let his brother run with it. It was clear that he want to believe that Ruby actually liked him for some reason.

 Cas figured that he himself would have considered her pretty once upon a time, but her bitter, lying, cold personality ruined that. Now whenever Cas saw her he got a bitter taste in his mouth and a scowl on his face.

Cas knew that she wouldn’t be with Gabriel for very long. Once she got bored of him she would dump him and flit off to some other horny guy who was stupid enough to play her little games.

“Well, maybe you’re right. Maybe she’s changed.” Cas said with a hint of sarcasm.

“I hate you.” Gabriel sighed. He must have heard the sarcasm.

“No ya don’t.” Cas insisted with a little smirk on his face.

“Yeah I do.” Gabriel pouted.

“Well maybe next time you won’t wanna drag me to another party then.”`

“Was that your ploy this whole time?” Gabriel asked seriously. “Annoy the piss out of me so I don’t wanna bring you to more parties?”

“No that wasn’t my plan, but if I keep on irritating you would that work?” He asked his brother eagerly.

“Just shut up Cas.” Gabriel said trying to sound harsh and serious even as his voice cracked and threatened to let bubbles of laughter spill over. “We’re here anyways.”

When Cas looked out of the window he saw a huge house that was lit up like a Christmas tree. It was a giant mansion with lights and people everywhere, making shadows dance on the ground and the nearby cars glisten with light.

Cas couldn’t help but be shocked by just how many people there were at the party and it wasn’t even dark yet. This just mean that the later it got, the crazier things were gonna get. Cas just hoped that no one called the cops on them. That was the last thing they needed to deal with.

With that though, both Cas and Gabriel clambered out of the car. Cas reminded his brother to lock the car behind them so no one would try to hotwire their car.

Music filled the air, making him feel giddy and slightly nervous again as the two of the turned towards the house and began walked up the long stretch of driveway.

Cas already knew.

Tonight was gonna be one hell of a night.

Tonight was gonna be a night he would never forget.


	3. Crazy Night (Dean)

The party was loud and boisterous. There were people running all through the house while a DJ was blaring out the top hundred pop hits of the year. The music was so loud that people literally had to shout just to be heard.

In the back yard, girls were running around in bathing suits splashing each other cheerfully as they swam across the large pool. Dean was sure that by the end of the night with enough illegal consumption of alcohol those same girls would be running around topless. Now that was something Dean wanted to be there for. He was always up for watching chick's partake in skinny dipping.

Inside, people were dancing, drinking and making out heavily against walls. Dean aimlessly wondered which drunken chick he'd be able to score with tonight. There were so many options, so many women to choose from.

"Sick party!" Jo said as she leaned in close to Dean so he could hear her. She had a broad smile on her face as she rested her arms against a table.

"Hell yeah!" Dean said with a bright smile, his arm also resting on the small round table. This was the atmosphere that he belonged in. Dean could live in this type of environment for the rest of his life. Music, booze and chicks galore.

"See anything that catches your eye yet brother?" Benny asked as he walked over to Dean and Jo with three drinks clutched carefully in his hand.

"Nah, nothin yet but the night is still young." Dean said as he scanned the room and accepted his drink from Benny.

"Very true my brother. Just don't get too carried away tonight, you're our ride home." Benny warned Dean with a stern look as he handed Jo her drink.

"Awe you take all the fun out of a party Benny!" Dean said as he jokingly as he gave Benny a sour look of disapproval.

"Are the only two things that guys think about is beer and getting laid?" Jo asked with a sarcastic roll of her eyes.

"Obviously!" Dean said with a coy smirk. "You've known me since forever! Haven't you learned that yet?"

Jo snickered softly while Benny said, "Well, it's mostly this horny little shit, but you know me sister. I've always got my eyes open for a willing participant."

As Benny spoke the three of them moved away from the table and began to walk towards the pool. The air outside would be a lot cooler and less stuffy than it was in here. In a party like this, the air was bound to get uncomfortable eventually.

As they walked, the three of them passed by two boys who were just walking in. One guy was a short, golden haired man who looked more than ready to hit the dance floor, while the guy being dragged in behind him just looked out of place. Right away Dean noticed those blue eyes, even from a distance they were still beyond shocking. He couldn't help but laugh a little as the golden haired man grabbed blue eyes and dragged him off somewhere in the direction of the kitchen. It must have been the kid's first big party like this.

However, Jo's voice speaking loudly broke into his thoughts and instantly pulled his mind away from the golden haired boy and the blue eyes. The pair was simply pushed the back of his mind without a second thought.

"I suppose it takes two to tango." Jo snorted responding to Benny's comment about sexual partners. "Who knows, I might be the one walking out of here with a hot man on my arm." She waggled her eyebrows and took a sip of her drink.

"I am shocked Joanna Beth Harvelle." Dean said in fake shock. "You know your mom would fucking kill you."

"Yeah? And I'll kill you if you ever call me by my full name again Winchester!" Jo threatened with a glare in Dean's direction.

Dean smirked at Jo. The two of them had been friends for nearly their whole lives and they were like brother and sister. Dean wouldn't dare admit it, but he was pretty damn sure that if he got into a wrestling match with Jo it would be close fight. Hell, she might even be able to beat him. She was a strong ass girl for the size that she was. Her skills often impressed Dean. She knew they did too, though Dean never admitted. Jo just always seemed to know that she was a close match for Dean and she never let him forget it. Ellen Harvelle, her mother, had taught Jo well.

"Alright, alright, cool your thunder Jo." Dean said as he pushed the back door open for her.

She smirked and said, "I'll let it go this time, but don't expect me to be so forgiving in the future."

"You gonna let a girl shoot you down like that mate?" Benny asked with a knowing smile on his face. He knew as well as Dean that Jo was not a force to be reckoned with.

"Do you want your ass handed to you too Benny?" Jo teased as they made their way to the side of the pool to sit down at a crowded table.

"Not at all." Benny exclaimed defensively. "Carry on."

Jo had a smug triumphant look on her face as they all took a seat.

"Damn, look at some of these chicks..." Dean mused with a lazy happiness. There were so many attractive women swimming in the water or standing around in the pool. Dean would happily bang any one of them. He seriously needed to get laid to get rid of this jittery unsayable itch.

"Not a bad selection for ya mate." Benny said appreciatively as he took a draft from his drink.

"I can butter them up for you if you need Dean." Jo told him smirking.

Dean shook his head and said, "You think I can't handle this on my own?"

"Well, if you drink too much you're just gonna be a hot mess and I'll have to drive your car."

"Oh hell no. Baby can only be driven by me." Dean gasped as he reached down to his pocket to protect his keys.

"Then watch what you drink." Jo told him.

Dean pursed his lips unhappily but he knew that they were right. Besides, he supposed that this party would only be fun if he actually was able to remember it in the morning. With a sigh Dean set aside his drink as he eyed the chicks wandering around.

"You know... Jo I think you might just want a shot at the chicks for yourself." Dean teased lightly as he gave her a small smirk.

"Well, you never know what they might be into." Jo said with a small wink at Dean. Both Benny and Dean knew that Jo was bisexual. It wasn't a secret between the three of them. Granted they kept it a secret from everyone else since it was so widely rejected in society because of the whole 'soulmate' thing. That however, didn't stop Jo from going after what she wanted. She was a stubborn girl if he ever met one.

Dean remembered when Jo had tried to go out with him. The two awkward 14 years olds had been friends for as long as either of them could remember, but Jo one day had decided that Dean was the man of her dreams. To this day, Dean still was never quite sure what had gotten into her head for that brief period of time, but she sure was persistent. She had spent a full week flirting with Dean and trying to get his attention in more than a friendship way. Though it had intrigued Dean a little, he hadn't really gotten the message until Jo flat out leaned in and kissed him.

They had just finished playing a head to head match of Halo (which he totally kicked her ass at, though she claims otherwise) when they both just froze. They had just been bickering about who won moments before, but she had suddenly started looking at him with a strong and intense in her eyes. Before he had a chance to comprehend that look, Jo had leaned in and pushes their lips together. He had been too shocked to move or even kiss her back and her lips fluttered across his.

When they broke apart Dean had been at a loss of words as he stuttered and blushed, trying to explain that he really only saw her as friend, his best friend of course, but nothing more. Dean knew he had to give her some response but had been scared that Jo would be upset about it and would just end their friendship. Fortunately, he had been wrong about that. In fact, after the awkward kiss their friendship grew even stronger. It wasn't long after that when Jo had admitted her bisexuality to him (though they still never discussed that kiss and to this day it had still never been brought up). Dean had been more than willing to accept his best friend just the way she was. He was just happy that she still wanted to be his friend after that. Dean wasn't sure what he would have done without her. His tough bad boy attitude typically scared people off so at the time (and even now) Dean never really had many friends.

About a year later was when Benny came into the picture. He had moved to Lawrence from Louisiana when he was about fifteen. Due to his thick accent and strange personality most people just flat out avoided Benny all together. Many people said that he was creepy and intimidating, but Dean had decided to take a chance and become his friend. Many people were surprised by that since Dean was very selective about his friends. Before he graduated, Dean was generally viewed as arrogant and stuck up when it came to his friend choices, but he just wanted real friend not fucking backstabbing douches. Even now Dean was glad that he had taken a chance with Benny. Besides Jo, Benny had quickly become one his only best friends. Dean trusted Benny with his life and he knew that Benny felt the same.

Then, the three of them, Dean, Jo and Benny had all become a tight knit group throughout their remaining years of high school. They were honestly the best school years of his life. Now that they all had graduated, that just meant they had more freedom now and Dean loved every minute of it. He even loved work, his life might seem boring and mundane to some, but for Dean a simple life with a generally repetitive agenda was exactly what he needed. Work, sleep, family, food, and one night stands. That was all he needed and nothing more.

As they all fell into comfortable chatter amongst themselves, Dean once again spotted those two boys, the short cocky looking one and the awkward uncomfortable one, blue eyes. Only now did Dean notice that the awkward looking one was wearing a trench coat  _and_ a tie. Dean immediately picked up on the fact that this atmosphere was not that kid's cup of tea. Someone probably dragged him along, more than likely the short cocky one he's tailing like a lost puppy.

Dean considered going over to talk to the guy and maybe making him feel a little less awkward. Dean was kinda cold and uncaring, but he wasn't a total douche (usually). However, he really wasn't in the mood for socializing. He'd talk to the kid later on in the evening if he got the chance.

As he took another draft from his drink, a hot chick walking near the awkward trench coat kid soon caught his attention. Instantly, Dean once again forgot that blue eyes even existed.

When the hot girl disappeared, Dean's eyes honed in on another attractive girl with flaming almost fake looking red hair. She was impossible to miss as she as she walked past their table.  _'I'd tap that.'_ Dean thought to himself as he glanced at the nice ass she had on her.

As she passed, she smirked at Dean and gave him a seductive little wink that said,  _'playful, but fun and willing if you dare to approach.'_

"Don't even think about it Dean." Jo warned him as she looked to where his eyes were locked.

"But why not? Look at her ass! It's amazing!" Dean protested with a soft purr.

"I second that one brother. She is one hell of a woman." Benny said as he too began to watch after the red head with interest.

"Do you have any idea who the fuck that is?" Jo demanded with a hint of humor in her voice.

"Not a clue." Dean purred, ready to jump out his seat and chat her up. In his mind he wondered just how fast he could get her into bed with him.

"People call her Abby, but that's just short for the name Abaddon." Jo explained.

"Abaddon..." Dean growled before whistling softly and adding, "Sounds like she'd be a beast in bed."

"Yeah, but she's in the same group as Ruby and Michael, but worse. I think she's the literal embodiment of a monster from hell. I'm not even talking bed game, she's just a back stabbing bitch." Jo told them loud enough to hear, but soft enough for the music to keep anyone else from hearing their conversation. You never knew who might be watching or listening these days. One wrong word to the wrong person and you'd have a whole army of people on your ass ready to fight you.

"Well... if she's drunk enough I can just slip away in the morning and she had no idea who she fucked." Dean said after a short moment of thought.

"Nice try Dean." Jo snorted. "She doesn't drink, so no chance of her being drunk and once you bang her once, it's like you owe her and she never leaves you alone." The look on Jo's face was tense and serious now as she spoke. "Just don't, you'll never get rid of her."

Dean sat back in his chair with a resigned sigh of defeat. He let the flash of red hair move out of sight as he said, "Aren't there any  _non-crazy_  chicks here that are willing to bang, no strings attached?"

Jo snorted and said, "Yeah, just give'em a few hours and they'll be the ones in the pool topless and making out with the other topless chicks."

A smile lit up Dean's face as he glanced towards the pool. "I fucking love coming to parties like this when there are pools! It's an added bonus."

"You're such a guy." Jo said, punching him in the arm and laughing.

Dean waggled his eyebrows at her and drained the last of the beer that Benny had brought them.

"Hey, you guys need a refill?" Dean asked them as he gestured towards his cup.

Benny and Jo looked at their cups and pushed them over to Dean.

"Yeah, sure thanks mate." Benny said smiling.

"Remember Dean, watch how much you drink." Jo warned him.

Dean rolled his eyes and stood. "Yes mom."

Dean knew that she had his best interest and heart, but sometimes being the designated driver sucked ass. He also knew that out of the three of them, Dean had to be reminded not to drink too much the most. Usually Benny and Jo didn't drink much at all, even when they had the chance, but Dean loved the taste of alcohol and the numbing calm that came afterwards. Sometimes he just didn't know when to stop and they all knew it.

Tonight however, Dean decided that one cup of beer would be enough for him. For once, he wasn't really in the mood to be drunk (plus he didn't want Jo or Benny driving his car). He also wasn't in the mood to get a crazy chick on his hands and knowing his drunk self, he would somehow end up with that Abaddon chick.

So as Dean moved into the kitchen he grabbed a coke for himself and two beer refills for Jo and Benny.

"Great party ain't it!" Someone said as they stepped up beside Dean and grabbed themselves a beer.

"Hell yeah!" Dean said with a smile as he looked at the speaker. He was slightly shocked to see the short cocky guy again, but this time he was without blue eyes. Dean wasn't quite sure why him and blue eyes kept catching his attention tonight. There wasn't anything particularly noticeable about them but they just seemed to keep popping up everywhere. "It's a nice break from the normal daily shit." Dean added.

"So true bucco!" The kid said with a laugh. He extended his hand and said, "I'm Gabriel by the way, but you can just call me Gabe."

"Dean." Dean said as he introduced himself and shifted the drinks in his hand to shake Gabriel's outstretched hand.

The two of them both headed outside back just chattering away and getting to know each other a little better. Dean learned that Gabriel went to the local college and knew the kid who was hosting the party. He also learned that Gabriel worked part time at the little candy shop in town.

"Yeah, and if you ask for me next time you come in, I can hook you up with some free shit if you want!" Gabriel was telling him happily as he rambled on about his job.

"Thanks man!" Dean said appreciatively, "That would be great!" As the conversation slowed between them Dean couldn't help but ask, "What happened to that little trench coated kid you were with earlier? He seemed kinda lost."

Gabriel smirked and shook his head as he snorted, "Him and his fucking trench coat... That was my baby brother Castiel. He's not big on these kinda things but I dragged him along. It's basically his first  _really_ wild party like this. I usually drag him to the more mild stuff."

"And you just let him wander off?" Dean asked as they got closer to Benny and Jo.

Gabriel shook his head and said, "Yeah... but I introduced him to my friend Meg Masters and they seemed to be getting along just fine."

Dean couldn't help but scrunch his nose at the mention of Meg. The two of them had a little two day fling a few years ago that hadn't worked out at all. To say the least, Dean had been pretty happy to get rid of her. He couldn't help but feel bad for that kid and... and what was that? A bit of jealousy that she was talking to him? Dean shook his head and thought,  _'Why should I be jealous? I don't even know the kid.'_

"I'm getting the idea you don't really like Meg." Gabriel said with a snort, breaking into Dean's confused thoughts.

Dean shrugged and made a face while saying, "Me and her aren't exactly on the best terms... Are... are you sure you should have left your brother with her?"

Gabriel shrugged and made a contemplating face as he said, "Yeah... I suppose she is a bit  _much_  to handle at times." He paused before adding, "I should go check on Cas... She does kinda come on a bit strong. See ya around!" Then, he turned abruptly and half ran, half wobbled off in the opposite direction.

"What was that about?" Benny asked Dean handed him a beer.

"Just some kid who started talking with me. He brought his little brother who isn't used to this environment and left him talking to Meg." Dean said with a snort.

The moment he said the name Meg he saw Jo and Benny get the same initial expression that he himself had worn only moments before. None of them liked Meg. No one knew who she helped and who she hurt. There was no team for her. If something wasn't working out, she would stab her best friend in the back to make things work in her favor. She could switch teams in a heartbeat as long as she was alright, Meg didn't care about anyone else. Dean supposed that she was a nice person when you got to know her, but as soon as she wasn't on your team anymore Meg became the biggest backstabbing bitch ever. Not to mention that she had one hell of attitude.

"I feel bad for the kid. He doesn't know what the hell he's getting into." Jo said sympathetically as she too took her drink.

"Yeah, I know. His brother just left him with her." Dean explained.

"Well rest in pieces I suppose." Benny said with a short bitter laugh. "Meg is a bitch."

"You can say that again!" Jo said as she raised her glass.

"Let's make a toast." Benny said with a smirk on his face.

Both Jo and Dean lifted their bottle to touch Benny's as he said, "Here's to the single, non-committed people who know what they want."

"Amen!" Dean said with a smirk. "Single and happy! Free to float around like a butterfly and sting like a bee!"

Jo snorted as took a drink from her beer. "Yeah, well you sure do get around a lot Dean."

"Fuck off Jo." Dean said with a sour look. "You're just jealous that I get so much ass."

"More like, bitches." Benny said with an apprising look as Dean drank his soda. "Seems like everyone you score with is one anyways."

"I wouldn't disagree with you on that one." Dean said simply as his eyes went back to scanning the crowd of people. "But I always pick a good lay." He added with a wink.

The three of them continued to bicker and people watch until Jo and Benny had finished close to four drinks. Dean kept getting them refill, while he himself somehow managed to stay true to his own word and not drink anymore alcohol.

"You wanna go in and dance?" Jo finally asked a little while later with a soft smile at Dean.

"Yeah, why not, let's go!" Dean said cheerfully. Jo loved dancing and both Dean and Benny knew it. She would have gone regardless if they had come with her. Jo wasn't shy, but Dean and Benny both knew that they had to keep an eye on her. She could handle herself just fine, but they still wanted to make sure that no douchebags were gonna try and fuck with her.

Jo eagerly drained the rest of her beer, slammed the bottle down on the table and grabbed both of their hands. She then proceeded to drag them both through the ever thickening crowd of people and back inside the stuffy house.

Inside felt like a furnace.

There was no other way to describe it.

It was hot as fuck inside.

The heat was a combination of way too many people squished into a room and everyone dancing around like madmen. The air was thick and heavy filled with smoke from the people who were passing around weed like it was candy. Intoxicated people moved drunkenly though the crowds, more alcohol held sloppily above their heads to prevent it spilling (Though with how drunk some people were it wouldn't matter what they did. They were just bound to spill most of their drinks). Still, others were making out heavily and pressing others up against the walls. Many of them seemed so into it that they were almost having sex right there in the middle of the room. Dean felt sorry for whoever was gonna be the one to clean up this mess.

The tables were littered with discarded bottles of beer and empty soda cans. Trash bags were overflowing onto the floor with the amount of cans that had already been tossed away. Dean was pretty sure that at least 90% of the people now were far too drunk to even know what a trash can was anymore.

Jo pushed her way through the crowd, not really caring who or what she crashed into on their trek to the living room.

Once inside the living room the air was even hotter. Dean, Jo and Benny pushed themselves towards the one clear wall by the window. As sweat ran down Dean's face he leaned over and pulled open the two side by side windows. Immediately Dean felt cool outside air filter in. It didn't do too much to help with the sticky air inside, but it gave the room a nice breeze every now and then plus it kept the room from turning into a complete oven.

Beside him, Jo started swaying to and fro, getting into the music as it blared through the room. This was where the music was the loudest. In the far corner of the room, the DJ was pumping out the music from a badass stereo system that was probably gonna be destroyed by the end of the night. Speakers were lined around the room and seemed to rattle everything as people danced away.

Jo was shouting practically in his ear as she told him that he better get his ass into motion.

Soon, all three of them were dancing and laughing, just having a great time. Jo and Benny somehow ended up with more drinks while Dean was sure to stay completely away from them. He had never actually made it all the way though a party completely sober. Usually he wasn't even sure how the hell he even got home. Sometimes he didn't even make it home and just crashed at the party its self. He had nearly gotten in trouble for that a few times when the cops would bust the parties. Somehow he always managed to get out which was totally fine by him.

The longer that the three of them danced the thicker the air around them seemed to get. He was sure that all this second hand smoke was going to give him cancer, but he really didn't care. Dean was having such a good time.

Soon their group was joined by a few other people that Dean didn't know. Jo soon was off in her own world, making out profusely with a guy while Benny and Dean chatted up a couple of girls. Before too long, Dean and Benny both found themselves being lead off in the direction of the stairs by these two very hot, yet, very drunk women. Dean looked back at Jo with concern, worried that she might get into something that she didn't want to be in. As he was led away she caught his eye and stopped making out long enough to give him a small wink.

She was fine. Dean shouldn't even be worried about her. Jo could handle herself, even drunk she could. He had gotten quite a few bruises over the years when he would make drunken Jo angry. That girl could seriously pack a punch.

 _'Ellen would kill me if she knew I let Jo off on her own.'_ Dean thought to himself with a laugh as he was lead up a large flight of stairs.

The woman leading him wobbled slightly, leaving Dean to catch her and keep her from falling over. They had to walk carefully around the cans and people scattered across the stairs. Dean loved parties like this. Everyone was just so... happy. Drunk yes, but happy and free. No responsibility, no problems, just fun and freedom! It was great.

When they reached the top of the stairs Dean was pulled one way and Benny was pulled the other way down the long slightly less crowded hallway.

"See you on the flipside brother!" Benny called as he looked over his shoulder at Dean.

Dean smirked back at his pal as they were pulled away.

As they moved down the hallways Dean was surprised by just how many rooms there were. This place was like a mansion and Dean swore he would get lost if he wasn't careful.

As they walked from door to door, they could hear the sounds of other people getting busy behind them. Both Dean and the woman were laughing softly as they walked. However, soon their laughter was cut off as Dean turned and pressed her against a bare spot of wall. He lifted his hands and tangled his fingers in her hair as he tasted her on his tongue. Her kisses were sloppy and messy, tasting more like beer than anything else. Their hands moved around wildly, gripping at each other like their lives depended on it. A fire pooled in Dean's stomach as they kissed. Dean was becoming utterly lost in the feeling of having her all over him.

He felt a slight twinge of guilt because of just how drunk she was, while he was about as sober as they came right now (In fact he was probably the most sober person at this party at the moment). However, Dean justified that thought by telling himself that she was the one who brought him up here and not the other way around. This had been all her. Dean was just playing along with it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw some hurried movements coming up the stairs. He broke the kiss to catch a breath of air and saw Jo giggling madly as she led the guy she had been kissing up the stairs.

"Use protection!" Dean called out her with a shit eating grin on his face.

She simply flipped him off with a smirk and ran off down the same way that Benny had gone.

Dean wasn't worried about her. He knew that she wouldn't do something like not wear protection, but it was what she always told him. Jo would always go on a rant and give him lectures about  _'being sure to wear protection. Do you really want a kid on your hands Dean?'_ Dean knew the drill and he wasn't about to let anything like getting some chick accidentally pregnant ruin his party years. He didn't care how good it would feel. There was no way in hell he'd bang someone without a rubber on. Even his drunken self knew that. Hell, he even kept a few in his jacket pockets and in his wallet whenever he went places like this just for that reason.

"Come on, let's find that room now." The women in his arms breathed in his ear as she ran her hands down his chest and began to toy at his fly.

That was more than enough to get Dean into action. Fire flashed in his chest and he rushed off to find the nearest empty room with the girl on his tail. As soon as they had gotten inside and locked the door (He had been walked in a few times at these parties, which always led to unwanted awkwardness) while the girl pounced on him.

Dean hoisted her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist. They kissed furiously as Dean walked back towards the full sized bed in the room. Just his luck he had actually picked a room with a bed in it! That didn't always happen so the floor or a sofa wasn't an uncommon place for him to get laid.

He pushed the women down onto the bed and tore off his shirt, tossing it somewhere out of sight. Dean watched hungrily as the women's hair cascaded down around her face. He forced himself to hold back his moan and he watched her remove first her shirt and then her bra right after. There was no time for delay; they needed to get down to business ASAP.

Dean leaned in and quickly began to kiss up and down her chest, sucking hickey on her skin and making her moan.

As she lay back, she pulled Dean along with her so he hovered over her body.

The two of them made quick work of their pants until they were only wearing underwear and boxers. Dean dipped back in for another hungry kiss but suddenly the room felt dark and stuffy. It wasn't just the normal heated air from sex; it was something more intense that left him gasping desperately to catch his breath. It was as if someone had punched him in the chest or sucked all the air from his lungs. This was far from a pleasant experience.

The woman's hand was clutched down tightly on his arm as she still tried to kiss him.

Stars flashed before his face as he dully noted that her hand was right over his Marking. Dean tried to clear his thoughts as he asked himself if this meant that she was the one he was destined to be pared with. Leave it to him to get with the one chick at the party who was destined to be his other half. He wasn't ready to be pinned down by someone. Dean still wanted his freedom. When he looked at his arm he mentally noted that the woman's handprint wasn't the same size of his Marking. He wasn't really sure what that struck him as significant, but right now it seemed very important.

The longer he was in here, the harder it became to breathe. As the room started to go black around him Dean realized this wasn't right. Something was telling him not to be here. He needed to get out of this room....  _Now._ He needed air and there was clearly none in here.

Dean pushed himself back, causing the woman to release her grip on his arm. Instantly that started to make him feel just a little bit better, but he still needed out of this room. Everything around him seemed to spin as he stood up and looked for his clothes.

Behind him, the woman said, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Her voice sounded like it was coming to him through a long hallway. She sounded so far away and Dean began to worry if he was about to pass out.

"I have to go." Dean tossed back at her. "I- I can't do this."

With that he threw on his clothes and stumbled from the room, looking back only once to see the drunken girl staring at him with a dumbstruck look on her face.

The door shut behind him with a loud band as Dean rushed off down the stairs.

' _I can't be drunk.'_ Dean thought to himself as he pushed passed people and forced his way outside. He needed some fresh air  _now._ ' _I only had one beer. I can't remember the last time I got drunk from one beer! I ain't no fucking light weight. Maybe someone spiked my drink with something.'_

However, Dean didn't think that was the case either because the further away he got from the room and that girl, the clearer his head got.

It was like a wave of nausea had hit him, but now it had all but vanished as he threw himself out into the open air. He pressed his way through more people until he found a clearing where he could sit by himself, undisturbed. Dean made sure that he was still able to see the stairway back in the house. He wasn't going to leave Jo and Benny here without a way home and he didn't want to lose them in the crowed when they were finally done upstairs.

Dean then proceeded to spend the next hour and a half, sitting outside in a daze, his head in his hands. He was too confused by what had just happened to do anything else. Dean didn't really even notice or care when a half dozen girls decided to start skinny dipping. A few people here and there asked him if he was alright or tried to offer him weed and beer, but Dean told them all off. He didn't even care how rude he was at this point. Dean just wanted to be left alone.

His eyes were closed as he thought. Dean was almost positive that the woman  _wasn't_ his soulmate since he had wanted to get out of there so badly. From what he understood, you were supposed to want to  _stay_ with your soulmate, not get away from them as fast as you could.

As Dean lost himself in his thoughts he could hear a pair of laughing people walking his way.  _'Pleaseee leave me alone.'_ Dean thought to himself as he heard the voices get closer and closer. He didn't bother to look up as he sat alone.

The laughter abruptly stopped and he felt a hand touch his knee. "Dean?" Came a female voice that was laced with concern.

He looked up, recognizing the voice and saw Jo watching him with concern, Benny by her side.

She leaned down, wobbling slightly as she asked, "Dean, are you alright?"

Dean nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all." He would tell Jo and Benny about what happened later on. Right now they were both too drunk to be helpful, much less remember what he told them.

"You sure mate?" Benny asked, stepping in. "You seem a little pale."

"I'm sure. I'm fine guys, don't worry about me!" Dean said enthusiastically. He put on a mask and tried to act like his normal self. If he could at least put on the illusion of being alright then that would be enough to get him though the rest of the night.

"Alright, well if you're sure." Jo said, only half believing him. In this drunken state, her mind was warring with itself as she tried to see though the lie. Normally, Jo would have known Dean was faking, but like this, she couldn't tell as easily.

"Well, you two wanna get outta here?" Benny asked as he looked between the two of them.

Dean nodded, thankful that Benny had suggested it. He just wanted to go home and crash. Both Benny and Jo were spending the night with him so that made driving a lot easier. He wouldn't get much time to dwell on the events from earlier which is exactly what he needed. Things would be better like that.

Together, the three of them made their way outside and back to the Impala. Dean had to guide Jo just a little bit to keep her from falling or wandering off. Jo was no lightweight when it came to drinking either, but it appeared like she might of had just a little too much tonight.

 _'I should have been watching her better.'_  Dean scolded himself.

When they finally found the car Dean was thankful that he had parked a little bit out of the way. It made it easier when he tried to leave and there was no one blocking him in. Dean was sure that the party was gonna go on for at least another two or three hours before the crowd even  _began_ to thin out. It was already around midnight, but these things usually ran late into the next day (unless the cops got there first).

Dean helped both Jo and Benny clamber into the back seat of the Impala and buckled them both up. He figured that everyone would be safer if he was the only one with access to the wheel. He was hoping to avoid one of them accidentally grabbing the steering wheel while he drove. Dean wasn't really looking to get into a crash tonight.

When Dean walked back around to the driver's side of the car he was pissed to see a bottle of beer on his hood and a few more on the ground around his car.

"Mother fucker!" Dean swore angrily. "No fucking respect." He furiously took the beer off his car and hucked it onto the ground. It exploded beside him as he examined the hood. All across it there were tiny almost unnoticeable scratch marks from where some asshole kept picking up and setting down his beer.

Baby was gonna need a new paint job now... She needed one anyways, but it just pissed him off that someone would be dumb enough to put their drink on a car like this.

Dean stooped down and brushed a few of the cans clear of the tires as well. He glanced under the car to make sure that there wasn't gonna be anything in the way when he tried to leave.

As he was crouched, someone said, "Excuse me." As they reached out and touched Dean's arm.

Instantly, lightning shot though his arm and down his back. A strange intense feeling flooded though his whole body and his world seemed to turn white for a spilt second. The entire world seemed to freeze as fire flashed across his skin. The Marking on his arm seemed to burn and throb as the person who had touched him was now gripping his arm painfully.

When Dean got his bearings again he looked up breathless and saw the bluest pair of eyes in the entire world. It was like a universe had exploded inside of them. Even in the dark of the night Dean could see his eyes gleaming. At the moment, the kid had a glassy stare on his face as he looked down at Dean in wonderment.

After a second, Dean realized that this was blue eyes. Castello or something like that. This was Gabriel's brother.

"Do you need something?" Dean asked, clearing his throat while slowly straightening up and at looking intently into blue eyes face.

The kid seemed to jump to life when Dean spoke. He glanced at his hand, which was still holding Dean's arm. (The one with his Marking Dean noted) All of a sudden he seemed to realize where his hand was so he quickly released Dean's arm and dropped his hand as he shifted uncomfortably.

The moment that the kid let go of his arm Dean felt like he had lost something deeply important to him. He felt like the world had kinda stopped all together and some part of him wanted this kid to touch him again.

The kid stuttered slightly as he said, "I- uh yeah... my brother kinda left me here and I was wondering if you could give me a lift home."

Dean was in awe at how deep and gravely the kid's voice was. It was almost hypnotic to listen to. Dean stood there looking like an idiot as he stared into this guy's face. He wasn't even sure that he had a reason why.

Dean didn't even realize that he should have answered by now until the kid started talking again, rambling actually as he said, "I mean- I can walk home too. That was my original plan, but I just hadn't realized how far this place was. But uh- thanks... I'll just be going... its fine you don't have to-"

"Hey, calm down, listen I'll give you a ride. I don't mind, just get in and tell me where you live." Dean said, trying to give the kid a warming smile. He hoped the smile made blue eyes feel calmer that he did at the moment.

The guy smiled shyly back and said, "Thank you so much." Then he ran around the car and clambered into the passenger seat.

Dean's heart seemed to flutter slightly when blue eyes smiled back at him. It was like Dean had unlocked a secret buried deep and he was the one who had found the treasure. At the moment, Dean wasn't really sure why, but he wanted to keep that treasure and the golden smile all to himself. Blue eyes looked good with a smile, especially when Dean was the one who put it there.

Dean hurriedly clambered into the car as he looked back towards Jo and Benny. "We're taking a quick pit stop you two." Dean informed them thought he doubted they'd even care.

"Do what you have to do brother." Benny said drowsily. Jo was silent, she was already leaned against Benny's arm fast asleep and Dean could tell that Benny wasn't far behind.

Dean shook his head as her chest rose steadily up and down.  _'She is gonna have one hell of a hangover tomorrow...'_ Dean thought to himself.

As he looked forwards again, Dean quickly started the car and began to pull out as he asked, "So, you're Gabriel's brother right?"

The kid looked at him a small look of shock evident on his face. "You know my brother?"

Dean nodded and said, "Yeah, I saw you guys come in earlier and I met your brother a little later on. He told me left you with Meg."

Cas shuttered and said, "Yeah... She is uhh unusual to say the least."

"That's an understatement..." Dean grumbled, "She's a bitch, but not too bad in bed."

The kid shifted uncomfortably beside him and stayed silent.

Dean felt the tension and wasn't sure what it could mean. Instead of trying to decipher the tension between them, Dean quickly changed the subject all together. Sometimes that was just the easiest thing to do.

"So, uh- what was your name? Your brother told me, but I don't think Castello is right." Dean said with a glance at the boy beside him. It was weird; Dean didn't wanna take his eyes off this kid. He wanted to stare at him for the rest of his life and he didn't even know why. This guy was just so intriguing. Dean was literally trying his hardest not to start shifting in his seat. He felt a burning itch that was like his normal  _'I need to get laid'_ itch, but now it was so much more intense and demanding. It was like someone had taken the feeling and turned it up by ten thousand.

The kid laughed softly, immediately breaking the strain between them. Dean was proud that he had been able to get the kid to laugh at all. This guy's laugh was like the voice of angels.

When Dean caught himself thinking this, he shook his head slightly and thought,  _'What is going on with me?'_ Since when do focus on a guy so much,  _'The voice of angels? What the fuck?'_

"It's Castiel, but that's close enough." The kid told him breaking into his confusion.

"Castiel..." Dean mused. "Kinda a mouthful dontcha think? You good if I call you Cas instead?"

When Dean looked at Castiel, he saw the kid's cheeks flush deep red as he stuttered, "Y-yeah... Cas is fine."

Dean flashed the guy a smile and said, "Alright cool." He wasn't sure what had made Cas blush but he sure as hell wasn't about to ask. "I'm Dean by the way. Dean Winchester."

"Well, thank you so much for the ride Dean." Cas told him gratefully Then he added, "Turn left here."

"So why did you're brother leave you there?" Dean asked, trying his hardest to ignore the itch and the desire to reach out and touch Cas as he turned the car.

"He left with some chick and forgot me here. I knew he was gonna do that. He always does." Cas explained.

"You sure he wasn't just upstairs getting busy behind closed doors?" Dean asked as his mind flashed to the events from earlier.

Cas sighed and said, "Yeah... I texted him and he told me he was already home."

"That's kinda bullshit." Dean said honestly.

"Tell me about it. Gabriel is kinda douchey like that sometimes." Cas said. After a minute he suddenly asked, "Hey uh- what kind of car is this? It's really nice."

Dean smirked with pride and said, "This bad boy is a four door, hard top '67 Chevy Impala with a 327 Engine and a Four Barrel carburetor."

Cas shook his head and said, "Sorry... I don't know that much about cars, but you said it's a '67 Impala?"

Dean nodded and watched at the kid rubbed aimless at one his wrists. "That's her. This is my baby." He said as he stroked the steering wheel adoringly while Cas gave him more directions.

After that, they had both fallen into causal conversation where Dean tried his best to avoid looking at Cas. He kept both hands gripped firmly on the wheel which was the only thing keeping him from reaching out and touching Cas. This was getting ridiculous. He wasn't sure what the hell was wrong with him. If Dean even looked over at Cas he would instantly start to feel himself get stiff in his own jeans and his heart would stutter dramatically. Dean honestly didn't even know how to explain the feeling to himself. It was by far the weirdest thing he had ever experienced in his short 18 years of life.

Soon, the two of them had reached Castiel's house and Dean stopped at the end of the driveway.

"Thank you so much Dean. You're the greatest." Cas told him as climbed out of the car and smile.

"Anytime Cas." Dean responded with a broad smile. Part of him wanted Cas to stay. He really wanted Cas to spend the night, but the logical part of his brain told him that they had just met. Dean wasn't really even sure why he wanted Cas to stay at this point. It was just a gut feeling that told him he should stick by Castiel's side.

Just as Cas was about to shut the door Dean made a split second decision and spluttered, "Cas, wait!" Dean quickly fumbled around his car for a second and found a pen and paper. He hurriedly scribbled down his phone number and passed it to Cas. "You should text me sometime. You're a pretty cool guy."

As Dean handed the paper to Dean their fingers brushed. Once again Dean felt that spark of electricity run though him, though it wasn't nearly as intense this time as it had been the first time.

Their eyes met as Cas stuttered, "T-thank you Dean. I... I guess I'll talk to you later then?"

"Hell yeah!" Dean answered with a soft smile. "Later Cas."

With that, Cas finally pulled his hand away from Dean's and shut the car door.

Now that Cas was gone, Dean finally felt like he could breathe again, but at the same time he felt like there was a hole in his heart. He felt like he had lost something that was so precious to him. Dean wasn't sure what the hell his problem was. He was honestly scared to think of the possibilities. There was one idea that was playing at the back of his mind, but every time it tried to call itself to attention Dean would distract himself with something else. Dean refused to let himself think of the possibilities.

He hurriedly turned on the radio and cranked up the music loud. Almost immediately he received protest from both Jo and Benny in the back seat. In the mix of his emotions Dean had completely forgotten that they were even there.

Dean quickly apologized and turned the volume down just a hair as the three of them headed off to his house as Dean's mind raced.

In the morning he was gonna have a lot of question to fire off at Jo and a lot of explaining to do. He wasn't looking forward to the morning at all.


	4. Don't Belong (Cas)

The moment that Cas walked in the door of the house he knew he didn't belong.

There were drunken people scattered everywhere. It was clear that the party was already in full swing. Just a quick scan of the room led Cas to believe that practically everyone was holding alcohol of some sort. He was willing to bet that almost everyone here was under the legal drinking age.

Cas was suddenly forced to jump to the side as an eager couple rushed past him and disappeared up a flight of stair. He scrunched his nose as the sounds of their drunken giggles quickly receded.  Cas instantly decided that he'd rather not figure out what those two were about to do.

Gabriel was smirking after the two people. Clearly his brother approved of the activity taking place here. Gabe didn’t care about the whole, marked system. He thought it was stupid as hell. Unlike Cas, Gabriel wanted to be able to choose who he loved instead of letting some _‘glorified ass monkeys make him fall in love’._ He didn’t want a soulmate; he wanted to choose who made him happy. Gabriel could care less about the system.

As Cas continued to drink in the room around him, he couldn't help but scoff in distaste. He watched a few pairs of people making out on a level that way beyond what was acceptable in a PG-13 movie. People were being borderline pornographic.

 _‘This must be what happens when sexual frustrated kids get drunk.’_ Cas thought vaguely to himself. Apparently the system didn’t seem very appealing to anyone here either.

Someone ran into Cas from behind and nearly spilled their drink on him. Fortunately, Gabriel saw this go down so he screamed at the kid and told him to watch where he was going.

A few people stared at them shiftily, but they didn’t let the little tiff ruin the party.

“Come on Gabe. Please don’t get into a fight tonight.” Cas begged his brother, pulling Gabe close so he could hear.

“Well these dick sticks better watch where they’re going then.” Gabriel answered, puffing out his chest with a sense of pride. “I brought you here, so it’s my duty to make sure you stay safe.”

Cas shook his head in horror. Tonight was going to be a rough one.

“Come on; let’s go in further, this is just the start. The party gets so much better when you join in.” Gabriel said, beaming eagerly.

Cas groaned silently. He couldn't have felt more out of place. Just by walking in the front door he knew that. Part of him was scared what he would see when he ventured further into this hell house.  

Cas followed Gabriel closely as they wove through crowds of people who were laughing and dancing. Many of them seemed to recognize Gabriel and called out welcomes to him.

So far no one had recognized Cas. He hadn’t really expected to know anyone anyways. None of his friends were too fond of parties. Most of them were even more socially awkward that he was which was really saying something. Most of them would probably be astounded if they heard he had gone to a party. It was probably better if he didn’t see anyone he knew here. Cas was happy being the unrecognized nobody.

His most exuberant friend was named Becky Rosen. She obsessed over TV shows all day and wrote fanfiction about characters (usually two guys) that she called her 'OTPs'. Online she was seen as a brave enchantress with beautifully written stories. She had thousands of people eagerly awaiting a new instalment of whatever gay filled soulmate story she was writing, but public she was an outcast. She was looked down on by most of the kids at school and shamed for supporting same sex marked ones.  According to Becky she had actually met some same sex soulmates, but Cas could never confirm her story. Cas wished he was able to meet some same sex soulmates. Everyone he met was straight couples.

According to Becky she was straight, but openly supported same sex soulmates. Cas never admitted to her that he was gay. It was too risky to have someone find out about his secret. Instead he listened to her love stories and fantasied about maybe finding his own male soulmate one day.  

Cas had long since given up on trying to understand her and her strange hobbies but he respected her liberal stance. He was pretty sure that Becky could sit in front of a computer all day reading and writing stories about two of the same guys falling in love a hundred different times in a hundred different ways.

Another one of his strange friends was an Asian kid named Kevin Tran. He had the worst case of social anxiety that Cas had ever seen (and Cas was including himself in this assessment). The two of them had met way back in middle school when they had been assigned to work on a school project together. Cas had quickly learned that Kevin was extremely smart for his age. He quickly decided that it would be in his own best interest to befriend this kid. Cas figured that since the two of them had worked so well together that maybe they could be project partners in the future as well. After all, two smart people working together were better than one! Not to mention that Kevin actually would do his part in group projects. Cas wasn’t left with 90% of the work while his partner did less than 10%. Sometimes Cas eve had to have to remind Kevin that they were working on the same project together. Kevin certainly pulled his own weight in school projects.

He highly doubted that either of his friends would show up at this party. Neither of them had siblings so there was no one to drag them into this unfamiliar atmosphere. Cas sighed in defeat and boredom as Gabriel grabbed onto his hand and continue to pull him through the crowds.

"Gabriel let go!" Cas complained as he tripped over his own feet. Cas silently prayed that he no one dropped their beer on him. He had just arrived and didn't really want to spend the rest of the night soaking wet and smelling heavily of alcohol. Cas was pretty damn sure that Gabriel wouldn't take him home if his clothes became wet and his house was too far away to walk. He’d probably just run upstairs and steal the first shirt he found which was probably worse than wearing a beer stained one.

“Then keep up!” Gabriel chuckled. That stupid smirk was still plastered onto his face as Cas was dragged in the direction of the kitchen.

"Where are we going?" Cas complained as he tried to pull back against his older brothers strong grip.

"To get drinks!" Gabriel called over the sound of the music.

"I don't wanna drink though..." Cas grumbled in irritation.

"Good, you're the designated driver then!" Gabriel chirped. “Besides, they have soda in here too.”

"Great thanks..." Cas muttered, pursing his lips in distaste.

Gabriel was a tricky drunk. He liked to think he was like this badass prankster when in reality he just annoyed the shit out of everyone. When he was sober he actually played good pranks, but drunken Gabe just got himself into a shitload of trouble.

Cas figured that by the end of the night he was going to need to save his brother from his own stupid prank.

Gabriel simply smirked probably planning some pranks to pull as he continued to pull Cas along.

This night was already turning into everything Cas has feared.

Cas tried his best to blend into the crowd while Gabriel got drinks.  He just needed to hang around for a little bit.  _'I just need to get Gabe off my back about this party shit.'_ Cas thought to himself.  _'Maybe we can even leave a little early.'_

Cas knew that was an illogical thought but it seemed like the only way he was gonna make it through the night.

As he watched Gabriel grab a beer and a soda he tried to ignore the people standing around him. Some of them looked like they wanted to eat him alive while others glared at him with looks of distrust. He could feel a silent question hanging in the air.  _'What is this looser doing here?'_  They knew as well as he did that he didn’t belong here.

On his left, Cas suddenly noticed a petite dark haired girl slowly creeping towards him. It was easy to tell that she was drunk off her ass and had no idea what was really going on around her.

Her dark hair was ratted and tangled. It looked like she had lost a battle with a tree. Her eyes scanned across him, glassy and unfocused. Cas could tell that sober, this girl was very pretty and cleaned up nice, but right now she looked kinda like a demon child.

Cas approached her slowly, worried that she might be hurt. "Are you okay?" Cas asked her once she was within earshot.

The girl didn't answer, which worried Cas. Instead, she just kept walking slowly towards him. She was wobbling so much that Cas was surprised that she was standing at all.

' _Jesus, what if she's a zombie?'_ Cas though to himself wearily.

He had seen enough horror movies to know that this was the perfect setup for one of those B-rated teen porno horror movies.

As she got closer Cas asked again, "Are you okay?"

He tried to ignore how his voice seemed to shake as he spoke. Action wasn't really his cup of tea. He'd rather read about it or watch it on TV. Real life shit is where he always failed miserably. He couldn’t even talk to a girl properly when he (not that it was the girls he was interested in impressing anyways).

"I'm better now that you’re here sweetheart." The girl hiccupped, giving him a tipsy smile that revealed her pearly white teeth.

Cas felt the girl's hands start to graze across his body. Her hand was stroking his arm and squeezing lightly at his nonexistent muscles.

He wasn’t really one to work out much. Not unless you count reading and binge watching shows as working out.

Cas was at a loss for words. He wasn't good with people, much less someone who was trying to flirt with him.

"Can I see your mark?" The girl asked as she attempted what she probably thought was a sexy giggle. To Cas, she just sounded like a dying dolphin as she drunkenly tried to flirt with him. 

He fumbled for an answer, trying to discreetly pull his trench coat over the marking on his wrist. It was like he was protecting it for some reason. He had never hidden his marking from others before, but it had been years since someone asked to see it. When he was younger him and the other children would inspect each other’s markings at recess and try to guess what they meant. This girl however, just seemed distasteful. Cas didn’t like her approaches towards him and he just wanted to get away. She was far too drunk to see or care that Cas was not interested.

Thankfully, just as Cas opened his mouth he spotted Gabriel mixed in with the crowd of people.

"Actually, I've gotta go." Cas lied squirming away from the drunk girl as fast as he could.

As he made his hasty retreat, the girl called after him, "Just find me later if you wanna hang out and have a real good time."

Cas shivered in disgust at the seductive undertone in her voice.

“There you are Cassie!” Gabriel chirped happily. He held a beer and a coke in his hand.

Once Cas was close enough, Gabriel held the drink out to him and said, “Cheers baby bro.”

Cas pursed his lips and forced a half smile as he popped the top to his drink.

They both took a long drink before they said anything else.

Cas felt his hands shaking and he had to force himself to steady his own breathing. He felt violated from the drunken girl. She had no boundaries and just made him more and more uncomfortable the longer he thought about it. Cas kinda just wanted to run to the bathroom and take a hot shower. Though he probably wasn’t going to like what he saw inside if he ducked out to the bathroom.

“Hey you okay Cas?” Gabriel asked, taking notice of his discomfort. “You’re not gonna like freak out on me are you? We haven’t even been here that long.”

“I-I’m good…” Cas lied. If the night continued to go like this, Cas was pretty sure that he might actually need a drink or two. It could help with the nerves at least.

“You sure?” Gabriel pressed. “You look kinda spooked.”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle.” Cas said with a dry smile.

“A girl tried flirting with you didn’t she?” Gabriel asked giving him a knowing smile. “You freaked didn’t you.”

“Shut up…” Cas mumbled. There was no use trying to lie to Gabriel. Once he had his mind set about something there was no telling him otherwise. Not unless you had cold hard facts.

“Who was it?” Gabriel teased. “Was she hot?”

“She was drunk.” Cas snorted.

“But was she hot?”

“She was _very_ drunk.” Cas insisted.

“Well at least point her out to me.” Gabriel said.

Cas rolled his eyes then turned to look for the girl who had been bugging him. It took him a few minutes to locate her through the crowd, but she hadn’t moved far from where they had been only moments before.

“Her.” Cas said, half pointing, half nodding at the girl.

Gabriel instantly winced and said, “Oh yeah… you dodged a bullet on that one.”

“Who is she?” Cas asked. It was obvious that Gabriel knew this girl.

“Lisa Braden. She was one of the high school sluts.”

 “Oh…” Cas hummed. He didn’t really want to know her back story. All that Cas cared about was that she wasn’t flirting with him anymore.

“Yeah, she cheated on every boyfriend she ever had.” Gabriel told him. “Anyways, you wanna head outside or something? There is a really nice pool here.”

Cas shrugged and said, “Yeah I supposed so.”

Cas followed his brother through the crowd his drink held close to his chest to avoid getting it knocked from his hand. He wasn’t much of a fighter so he didn’t need some big ass football player trying to kick his ass or something.

“So, where is Ruby?” Cas asked. He hadn’t yet seen his brother’s latest girlfriend.

“She’s on her way.” Gabriel said cheerily.

Cas pursed his lips but stayed silent. She was probably already here, but lied because she was in the middle of banging some other dude at the party. Gabriel didn’t know what the hell he was getting himself into. Sometimes he could be so blind when a girl was involved. Ruby was a bitch, but his brother was just going to have to find that out the hard way. Gabriel hated being wrong.

When they made it into the backyard, Cas was hit was a nice refreshing blast of open air. It felt much better out here than in did inside. He hadn’t even realized just how hot and stuffy it had been in there until now. Cas could only imagine how horrible it would feel in there later.

A bitter scent soon filled his nose and Cas could only assume that someone had brought weed to the party. He should have guessed. Personally, he had never smoked it, but Gabriel had smoked it on occasion so he was able to identify the pungent herbal smell hanging in the air. Cas hated the smell, but he had learned to become immune to it so he simple pretended like it wasn’t there.

“So, you see anyone who’s caught your eye yet baby bro?” Gabriel asked, stopping in the grass near the pool and turning back to face to house.

Cas shook his head slowly, as he quietly scanned the surrounding area.

“No…” He hummed, taking a sip from his soda.

“Really man?” Gabriel exclaimed. “There are so many hot chicks here! Many of them would love to get a shot at you!”

Just as Gabriel spoke, a girl locked eyes with Cas and winked seductively.

“See what I mean?” Gabriel snickered. “You have the chance to lose you ‘V’ Card tonight.”

Cas scrunched his eye brows and looked away from the girl with disinterest. “Who said I want to lose it yet?”

“Come on, let lose Cassie!” Gabriel prodded.

“I didn’t come here to get laid. I don’t wanna have sex with some random ass chick who won’t know my name in the morning.” Cas said coldly.

Gabriel looked taken aback. It was like he had never heard of this concept before. Apparently in his mind, if you went to a party you were bound to get laid. That wasn’t how things worked with Cas. He was perfectly content with keeping his virginity until he met his soulmate.

As Cas resumed his crows scanning, his eyes landed on a guy about twenty feet away sitting at an outdoor picnic table. His eyes instantly locked onto the guy and he felt like he was melting in his shoes.

Cas had already found the hottest guy at the party. He had short dark that hair spiked upwards slightly in front and a beautiful face with a strong jawline. Cas was instantly drawn to him. The light outside was fading so he wasn’t able to get a full view of the guy’s face but Cas still knew it was filled with perfection. He wore a tight black shirt that Cas assumed showed off some well-defined muscles and light blue jeans that hugged his legs nicely.

This guy was clearly perfect. Well, visually at least. Cas had no way of telling if this guy was a douche or not. That’s just one of those annoying features that looks don’t give away.

 _‘I bet he’s an asshole. No one that hot could be a nice person.’_ Cas thought to himself. He knew that wasn’t true but it was his way of trying to irrationalize his insta-crush on this beautiful stranger.  Cas already knew that he would have zero chance with this guy. _‘Not to mention that you’re both guys dumbass.’_  Cas thought to himself. _‘And think about it, what are the chances of you finding another gay guy, especially here? Probably like negative 50. Don’t even start.’_

The chance of having one gay guy at a party was rare enough. Since Cas was that one gay guy, he was the 1 in 500. The chance of finding 2 in 500 was next to impossible what with straight soulmate relationships dominating the world.

 _‘Besides, that guy doesn’t even look like he has a smidgen of gay inside of him.’_ Cas told himself. _‘He looks like an asshole.’_ That kid probably had a reputation to uphold so even if he _was_ gay he would hide it well. Even if the guy was drunk off his ass, Cas was pretty sure that the hottie wouldn’t even spare him a second glance. To him, Cas was just another nobody in a sea of faces.

Cas forced himself to tear his eyes away before he was caught staring. That would be awkward as hell. He hated when someone caught him staring.

When Cas looked away, he found Gabriel smirking at him, that tricky smile curling across his face.

Cas shifted uncomfortably and said, “What?”

“Who are you staring at?” Gabriel asked in a teasing voice.

“Has Jo Harvelle captured your wandering eye?” Gabriel asked.

Castiel’s heart skipped a beat in his chest. Was the boy’s name Jo? How did Gabriel know who he was staring at?

Gabriel clearly took his silence as confirmation so he said, “She’s a cutie isn’t she?”

Castiel’s brain seemed to short circuit. For a short second he thought Gabriel had actually figured out his secret. Cas glanced back over to the table and saw the girl that his brother was probably referencing. She had a pretty smile and seemed to be laughing at something the cute boy said. There were three people total, but Cas had been so focused on pretty boy that he had failed to see the others sitting with the boy.

Cas coughed to cover up the uncomfortable moment but Gabriel wasn’t buying it as he spluttered, “No! I mean, she’s pretty, but not my type.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and said, “Aw you’re no fun! I’ve heard she’s a firecracker.”  After a second Gabriel added, “So what is your type anyways?”

 _‘Gay.’_  Cas thought to himself but out loud he said, “I dunno…”

“Come on, you’ve gotta have something in mind when you think of who you wanna bang.”

“You know I want more than sex in a relationship Gabriel.” Cas scoffed.

“Well duh! I know you’re a big softy for that that soulmate bull, but still, wouldn’t it be nice to maybe have some experience before doing the whole shebang with the woman you’re supposed to spend the rest of your life with?”  Gabriel protested.

“You just like having sex.” Cas snorted. “That’s what it comes down to.”

“No Cas, _free will_. I like having free will.” His brother insisted. After a paused he added, “Although the sex is usually pretty great too.”

“Yeah that’s what I thought.” Cas said with a laugh. Gabriel could be so predictable with his emotions. Cas could always see the layer in each one of his words. He was able to dig beneath the initial meaning and find his brother’s true intentions.

“What are you boys laughing at?” Came a female voice from close by.

Cas instantly closed up, his shyness and uncertainty returning in an instant. His people skills weren’t very good. Gabriel was used to his unusual personality, but the rest of the world wasn’t.

“Hey Meg!” Gabriel chirped happily. “We’re discussing how stupid the soulmate thing is.”

“You were.” Cas interjected. “I’m cool with it.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes but smirked down at him.

“Are you giving your free will speech again?” The girl named Meg asked Gabriel.

“Of course!” Gabriel teased. “By the way Meg, this is my little brother Cas.”

“So this is the legendary brother of yours.” Meg purred. Cas could hear a thick sugary undertone in her voice. He had heard stories of Meg being very manipulative. She liked getting what she wanted and was willing to step on almost anyone to get what she wanted.

“Oh great. There are stories about me…” Cas mumbled. “Thanks Gabe.”

“Oh calm down Clarence.” Meg teased. “They’re all good stories. Your brother tells me that you’re a perfect angel.”

“I hope so.” Cas replied as he gave his brother a sideways glare.

Cas suddenly looked back at Meg and asked, “Did you just… call me Clarence?”

Meg just winked at him and said, “It’s A Wonderful Life Clarence.”

“I don’t understand that reference.” Cas said cocking his head to the side.

Meg just smirked and remained silent.

Behind her, Cas watched a red-haired women wink at Mr. Perfect. Cas envied the girl. He could see the look on Mr. Perfects face and wished that he would look at him like that. Cas began to launch himself into a fantasy, tuning out whatever conversation was going on between Meg and Gabriel.

He imagined walking past the boy, slow and like in the movies. Then he would look over his shoulder and wink when he felt Mr. Perfect’s eyes following him. He would leave the boy speechless and curious for more. Cas could see Mr. Perfect excusing himself from the table for a minute just so he could trail after him and ask him his name.

The spell was broken when Mr. Perfect suddenly stood up and grabbed three empty cups. He tried not to be upset as he watched him walk away. Judging by the way he had looked at that red-head, Cas knew that the guy was straight. His suspicions had just been confirmed. The chances of seeing him again before the end of the party were slim to none at this point, especially with so many drunk and horny women scouring the place. Cas was sure that Mr. Perfect was just going to be another one of those drunk guys locking themselves into an upstairs bedroom. He wasn’t sure why this made him feel so horrible. _‘I am just one of those hopeless romantics who believe in love at first sight.’_ Cas thought to himself _. ‘Falling in love at a single glance was worse than any heartbreak_. I’ll probably never even know Mr. Perfects name.’ Cas thought to himself in disappointment.

 “Hey _Clarence_ , I’m gonna run and some more drinks. Do either of you want anything?” Gabriel asked, bringing Cas back to the real world. There was a wicked smirk on his brother’s face as he put extra emphasis on the name ‘Clarence’.

“If you call me Clarence ever again I’m gonna knock your teeth in.” Cas threatened as he gave his brother a dark look.

“Only if you can catch me.” Gabriel snickered. “Anyways Meg do you want anything?”

“A beer would be nice.” She said with a sickly sweet smile on her lips.

“Want a new soda?” Gabriel asked, looking towards Cas now.

“I’m good thanks.” Cas told him. He still hadn’t finished his current soda yet.

“I’ll be back in a snap Clarence.” Gabriel said, with a dirty smile on his face.

“You fucker!” Cas exclaimed half lunging at Gabriel as he took off into the crowd.

Now it was just him and Meg standing there awkwardly. Cas, being his usual socially awkward self, had no idea what to say to her.

Fortunately, Meg seemed to pick up on this detail and initiated the conversation. “I don’t believe you’ll ever live that nickname down.”

“Probably not.” Cas sighed. “He’s an ass sometimes.”

“I second that, but he’s just teasing.” Meg assured him.

“Yeah, I know.” Cas said with a laugh, “I’ll get him back somehow. He’s taught me enough pranks over the years. Eventually one of them will work.”

Meg laughed too and said, “Ah, yes, you’re brother always has been quite the little prankster. “

“Yeah…” Cas hummed, thinking back on all the tricks Gabriel has pull on him over the years. Some of them he could actually laugh at now, but there were others that were still in need of revenge. Sometimes Gabriel got a little outta hand with his tricks.

“He still a candy junkie?” Meg asked, stepping in a little closer so they wouldn’t have to talk as loud to be heard over the voices of everyone else.

“Of course.” Cas snorted. “I swear his room is made out of candy!”

“I think his brother might be made out of candy too, because you are as sweet as sugar.” Meg hummed, giving him a seductive look through her long lashes.

Cas laughed uncomfortably and shifted in place. Why did people only flirt with him at a party like this? Normally, no one spared him even a second glance, but now it was like all the rules had flown out the window. Everyone was fair game.

“So, what’s with the trench coat Clarence?” Meg asked him as she reached out and tugged at the jacket.

Cas shrugged and said, “I dunno, it’s just comfortable I guess.”

“But this is a party! Don’t you wanna dress more… causal maybe?” Meg asked.

“I don’t exactly go to very many parties.” Cas explained. “I wasn’t really sure what to wear.”

Meg nodded in understanding. “I see. You are different aren’t you Clarence… you’re like a unicorn in a sea of ponies.”

Cas snorted and laughed loudly at her reference. That description was far more accurate that he had expected it to be. A unicorn was about the gayest, rainbow sparkle creature she could have chosen. It was perfect for him.

“See, even you agree!” She exclaimed, laughing along with him. “You’re special Clarence.”

Behind her, Cas could see his brother finally returning. Yeah, he enjoyed talking to Meg, but he was more of the silent listening type. He preferred to absorb a conversation rather than join it.

A few minutes later Gabriel returned with drinks in his hand.

“Cheers!” Gabriel chirped happily as he lifted his cup into the air.

Meg smiled and nodded, raising her beer up too before pulling it to her lips and drinking.

While they drank, Cas let his eyes wander back over to were Mr. Perfect had been sitting. Much to his surprise, the boy was back and looking directly at Cas. Felt his cheeks flush a dark red color as he quickly averted his eyes.

 _‘Fuck’_ Cas thought to himself. _‘I’ve been spotted. I must retreat. Why the hell did I come to this stupid ass party?’_

While Cas tried to hold back his panic attack he turned his back to Mr. Perfect and tried to throw himself into the conversation taking place between Meg and Gabriel.

“Why are you even dating her?” Meg asked with a serious look on her face. “Literally no one likes her!”

“Well I like Ruby.” Gabriel snapped back with a smirk.

Cas could tell that the two of them weren’t fighting, they were merely debating. The tone in their voices weren’t sharp enough to suggest anger.  

“You just think she’s hot.” Meg accused with a smug look on her face.

“I like her for other reasons too!” Gabriel protested.

“Like what?” Meg asked him as she cocked her eyebrow.

“She’s… well nice to me. She’s funny, and on top of that yes, she is very pretty. What can I say; I have a thing for blondes!”

“You have a thing for anyone with legs.” Cas interjected trying to distract himself from Mr. Perfect. He was actually surprised that he was even able to form words. He figured that Mr. Perfect would have stolen his voice the same way he had stolen his heart.

“Can it, Clarence!” Gabriel snapped. “No one asked you shit head.”

“Don’t worry; I won’t charge extra, my sarcasm is free.” Cas said with a sassy smile pulling at the corner of his lips. The sarcasm was helping distract himself just a little. It was certainly giving him something to think about other than the tight dark clothing that-

Cas quickly stopped his thoughts in their tracks and focused on Meg as she said “Oh Clarence, I’m loving the sarcasm. Keep going, it’s making me all dewy.” Her eyes narrowed slightly followed by a tiny smirk on her pale lips. Once again Cas once again felt unnerved by her presence.

“Don’t encourage him!” Gabriel argued.

Suddenly, Cas watched as a pair of hands snaked around Gabriel’s face and covered his eyes.

“Guess who!” Cas heard Ruby whisper into Gabriel’s ear.

Cas back bile as he looked at Ruby’s sharp, dark features. She was enough to make Cas cringe. Her dark eyes glanced over at him for a split second before she practically threw herself at Gabriel.

Eagerly, Gabriel began kissing her, deepening the kiss far beyond what was acceptable in a public place.

“Fuck Gabe, get a Goddamn room already!” Cas moaned with a horrified look on his face.

Instead of answering, Gabriel just kissed her harder and lifted his beer free hand to flip him off.

“You wanna get outta here?” Meg asked him, with a dark look towards the couple. “They seem to be pretty occupied; we can go dance or something.”

Cas nodded quickly. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Gabriel barely even seemed to notice when they left. He was still too busy sucking face with Ruby.

The two of them made their way slowly back towards the house. Cas spared a quick glance towards Mr. Perfect’s table as they passed, but he was disappointed to see that the table was empty aside from some empty beer cups. Him and his friends must have left or moved to a different part of the party.

 _‘I hope I didn’t scare him away.’_ Cas thought to himself in a panic.

Before his thoughts could over think the matter too much, Meg distracted him by saying, “She’s just using him…”

Cas gave her a strange look and asked, “Who?” As he looked around to see who the hell Meg was talking about.

“Ruby!” Meg exclaimed looking at him like he had just grown a second head.

“Oh! Right…” Castiel exclaimed. “Yeah… She is. I hate her, but Gabriel just doesn’t see why yet.”

“That much is obvious just seeing the way he kissed her.” Meg scoffed. “I think that actually made me puke in my mouth a little.”

Cas scrunched his nose in disgust and said, “Yeah me too. I think I need some new eyes now. Maybe poor some blech inside my head to cleanse the image of him jamming his tongue down her throat.”

“He is a special kinda stupid.” Meg said as she shivered in disgust.

Cas shrugged and said, “Yeah, but he’s a big ol’ softie no matter how much tries to act tough. He falls in love to hard and his heart gets broken every time. That’s why I keep telling him to wait until he finds his soulmate.”

“You actually believe in that shit?” Meg asked him seriously.

Cas nodded and said, “Oh hell yeah I do.”

“It’s a load of shit if you ask me. I mean, come on. I can met anyone and just say that they’re my soulmate. Like how are you supposed to know? You either get along with the person or you don’t. End of story. People just twist these elaborate stories to claim that their markings actually make some sort of sense. People are just desperate if you ask me. I mean, come on.” Meg said, giving him a serious look.

“Just wait Meg, one day you’ll see.” Cas beamed as they entered into the boiling hot house.

As they found a place to sit inside Meg was looking at him funny. There was a tiny smile creasing her lips as she shook her head.

“What?” Cas asked her.

“Like I said earlier, you’re different. I like that about you.” She told them.

The two of them continued to talk throughout the rest of the night. Meg was the one who did most of the talking though. She asked him an assload of questions, most of which he had no good answers for, but he still tried.

After a while he got bored talking to her, but he couldn’t find a way to excuse himself without upsetting her. She was nice enough, but Cas was beyond ready to go home. He was tired, and the party was getting more and more rowdy. Drunken people were staggering around the house and giggling up a storm. He had lost count of how many people had vanished upstairs into the bedrooms with another partner. Some of them went up there multiple times with different people.

Cas tried to ignore when a large group of people all went upstairs at the same time. He could only imagine what was going on between them.

Cas began to worry about if the cops showed up. Someone was bound to report this party sooner or later. If it got any wilder the cops might actually hear it from the police station ten miles away.

In the corner of the room, a group of people were playing spin the bottle and swapping sloppy kisses that lasted longer than they should. In the back hall, another group was playing seven minutes in heaven.

Cas was so tired of listening to the sounds of surprise when a guy would grab someone’s ass. He swore that if anyone tried anything with him he was going to start kicking people’s asses.

Finally, Cas yawned loudly. He had been unable to hold it back as his eyes drooped sleepily. In all honest he hadn’t really even been paying attention to what Meg had been saying to him. Clearly it hadn’t been anything that he needed to respond to since she had been talking for nearly five minutes straight. All he had needed to do was nod at the right time and listen for the pauses in her story.

“Tired?” She asked, glancing down at her phone to check the time.

“Yeah very tired.” Cas said, sleepily pulling out his own phone. “Holy shit, it’s like midnight already!”

Meg laughed and said, “If you think this is late, you should see how long this party last!”

Cas shook his head and said, “Ugh I don’t wanna know. I actually need to find Gabe and drag his ass outta here. I need my sleep!”

“House parties are rough the first time around.” Meg teased Cas as he texted Gabriel.

_‘Hey, where the hell are you man? Let’s get outta here. I’m tired.’_

Cas hoped that Gabriel would reply quickly. The wildness of the party was starting to get to him.

Cas sighed a breath of relief when his phone vibrated again. When he opened the message from Gabriel he about threw his phone out of anger. He received three messages back to back.

_‘Shit.’_

_‘You’re still there aren’t you?’_

_‘Fuck I’m sorry man. Me and Ruby bailed about an hour ago. I can come pick you up if you want.’_

Cas chewed his lips and scowled at his phone.

_‘You’re an ass Gabriel.’_

_‘Fuck you, I’m walking home.’_

“Sibling problems?” Meg asked, pulling Cas away from his phone.

“Yeah.” Cas huffed in anger. “He left.”

“I can drive you home if you want.” Meg said. Cas was about to agree, but he saw the way she wobbled when she stood. Meg was drunk off her ass. They’d probably crash if Cas drove with her.

“Nah, I’m just gonna walk.” Cas told her. “It’s not that far. You keep on enjoying the party.”

Meg just shrugged and said, “Suit yourself. Don’t say I never did anything for ya. Catch ya later Clarence.”

“Bye Meg. It was nice meeting you.” Cas said as he stood and stuffed his phone back into his coat pocket.

Anger bubbled inside of him as he pushed his way through the crowd of people and shoved his way out the front door.

He knew this was going to happen. Gabriel always left him behind if there was girl involved. It was like he would get caught up in the moment and forget that he even had a brother. Cas hated it. He was always the one that got screwed in the deal.

 _‘This is the last one of his stupid ass parties I’m even coming to.’_ He thought to himself as the cool outdoor air hit his face.

Cas walked with his head down as he weaved through the cars parked up and down the block. It took forever to get home from here. Why had he ever thought this was a good idea?

_‘I am such a push over…’_

As Cas brooded over his own misfortune he heard voices ahead of him.

Cas looked up curiously, hoping that he wasn’t about to run into someone. Fortunately, the people were still a little ways off.

There were three people standing by a car. One of them was helping the other two get into a car.

Cas watched as he threw a beer bottle onto the ground angrily. The party must have stretched out to the cars at some point in the night. As he looked around, Cas saw more discarded bottle and cans littering the ground. Whoever was left cleaning this up had one hell of a task on his hands.

As Cas got closer, he had a completely irrational through.

 _‘Maybe I could ask them for a ride home. It would be better than walking.’_ He couldn’t explain why, but he felt like they would be more than willing to give him a ride.

Something in the back of his mind told him that these guys could literally be anybody. They could all be drunk off their asses or even murders.

Cas chose to ignore these dark thoughts as he approached the group.

Only one of them was still outside, the other two were tucked away in the car while this third person crouched and peered underneath the car.

 _‘Just reach out and tap his arm.’_  Castiel thought silently. _‘He doesn’t see you, so make him see you.’_

As he reached out, time seemed to slow down. The night air seemed to heat up and the light breeze dissipated instantly. The moment that his fingers brushed the other persons arm he felt everything change. It was like his hand had been set as his world began to spin. A tingling sensation rippled through his body, resonating from his fingers. Everything seemed to dim and the streetlamp that illuminated the street seemed to dim just a little bit. After a second, the mark on his wrist began to itch. Somehow he pushed that itch to the side, his focus locked on the feeling that was building inside of him. He wasn’t sure that he’d be able to move a muscle if he tried.

His eyes looked with the kneeling kid and felt frozen to the ground. He was met with the kindest green eyes he had ever seen. They were now mostly dark and blown with lust. His blonde hair looked messy and disheveled, but framed his freckled face nicely.

_This is Mr. Perfect._

Cas realized who he was staring at and felt like he wanted to melt into a puddle on the ground. Half of him wanted to vanish on the spot while the other half of him wanted to fling himself at the boy in front of him.

Mr. Perfect was the first to break the spell.

His deep rough voice startled Dean as he cleared his throat and asked, “Do you need something?”

Cas fought for words, struggling to find something to say back. _‘What was I going to ask him?’_  Cas thought as he looked at his hand clamped tightly onto the other boy.

His eyes widened momentarily, wondering why the hell he was still holding onto the boy. _‘He probably thinks I’m creepy as hell. I was staring at him earlier and now this. Great…’_

Cas pulled his hand away quickly and felt his mind clear a little. Part of him wanted to pull Mr. Perfect into a tight hug and never let go, but he resisted the urge. His body fought against his will as he finally stuttered, "I- uh yeah... my brother kinda left me here and I was wondering if you could give me a lift home."

As soon as Castiel’s question left his lips he wished he could take it back. Mr. Perfect was literally just staring at him with a blank look on his face. Cas wished he had just said never mind and walked away.

 _‘Maybe I can still take back what I said.’_ Cas though, panic filling his body as he tried to force his feet to move. Much to his surprise it seemed as if his feet were rooted to the very ground as he said, "I mean- I can walk home too. That was my original plan, but I just hadn't realized how far this place was. But uh- thanks... I'll just be going... its fine you don't have to-"

The boy cut him off suddenly, giving him a small smile as he said, "Hey, calm down, listen I'll give you a ride. I don't mind, just get in and tell me where you live."

Cas blurted out a quick thank you and finally found the strength to move. Quickly he ran to the passenger door and pulled it open.

He smiled when he sat in the interior. The car was in pristine condition. It was clearly an older car, but it was nice and well kept. Cas might have believed it was new off the car lot if it wasn’t for a few scratches and some strange little odds and ends here and there.

As Dean got into the car he looked at the people in the back and informed them of what they were doing.

The others seemed eager to oblige, though Cas guessed that they were both too drunk to really give a shit about anything.

As the kid started up the car, he looked over at Cas, making him blush.

He was shocked when the boy asked, “So, you're Gabriel's brother right?"

 _‘How the hell does he know who I am?’_  Cas wondered. _‘Maybe he and Gabe were old friends or something…’_

When he asked about it, the boy informed him that he met Gabriel earlier today at the party. Then he added “He told me he left you with Meg."

Cas thought back to his evening spent with Meg and shivered slightly. "Yeah... She is uhh unusual to say the least."

It had been a long night hanging out with her. She had been cool enough, but Cas had been happy to finally get away from her constant chatter.

He was still trying to comprehend why this incredibly hot guy had been asking about him in the first place. There wasn’t thing particular defining about him. He normally blended fairly well with a crowd of people. _‘Was it really that obvious that I hadn’t been to a party like that before?’_ He wondered silently.

Dean seemed to agree with his statement about Meg as he grumbled, "That's an understatement..." After a second or two he added "She's a bitch, but not too bad in bed."

Cas was silent. _‘Here I am thinking there is this strange connection between me and this guy, but I think it’s just me. He seems so straight it’s painful.’_

The kid clearly noticed the shift in the atmosphere as he changed the subject. "So, uh- what was your name? Your brother told me, but I don't think Castello is right."

Cas laughed at the boy’s mistake and shook his head before correcting him. Meanwhile, Cas tried to figure out why the kid seemed suddenly so uptight and jittery. It was like he had just drained an entire soda in the span of just a few minutes.

"Castiel..." Mr. Perfect hummed, considering the sound of his name.

Cas mentally wished that this kid would say his name a hundred times over. There was something extremely hot about hearing the way his deep voice rang beautifully to create his name. He wished he had a tape recorder so he could cherish that sound for the rest of his life.

He was pulled from his reverie when the boy smirked and said, "Kinda a mouthful dontcha think? You good if I call you Cas instead?"

Castiel’s cheeks instantly turned bright red. _‘Does he even realize what he just said?’_ Cas wondered. His mind had immediately turned to dirty thought though he was pretty sure that’s not what this kid was intending it to me. When he found his voice again Cas stuttered, "Y-yeah... Cas is fine."

The boy then gave him a huge blinding smile as he introduced himself. "I'm Dean by the way. Dean Winchester."

_Dean Winchester_

Cas sighed to himself, considering just how perfect that name sounded. He marveled at the name while Dean asked him another question.

"So why did you're brother leave you there?" Dean asked him, as he they drove down the road.

Cas let out a soft sigh and explained that his brother had texted him and ended up leaving with his girlfriend.

A strange peace suddenly seemed to wash over the car. For the first time that night, Castiel actually started to feel relaxed. It was like this car created some sort of peace between them. Not to mention that it was dark in the car, so Dean wouldn’t be able to see how much he was blushing.

It was hard not to stare at the boy sitting beside him on the bench seat. To distract himself he began to look closer at the car. Suddenly, he began to get a strange feeling of déjà vu.

 _‘Why does this car look so familiar?’_ Cas thought to himself.

On a whim he glanced back over to Dean and asked, "Hey uh- what kind of car is this? It's really nice."

Cas watched the boy smiled eagerly. It was the same look that Gabriel got on his face when he walked into the candy store he worked at. Cas could tell that Dean absolutely adored his car. "This bad boy is a four door, hard top '67 Chevy Impala with a 327 Engine and a Four Barrel carburetor."

Castiel’s heart stopped. _‘There’s no fucking way’_ Cas thought to himself. He shook his head to clear his mind as he forced himself to say, "Sorry... I don't know that much about cars, but you said it's a '67 Impala?"

Dean nodded, smiling widely. Cas chewed slowly on his lip as he rubbed his wrist. The marking hidden beneath his sleeve seemed to tingle slightly as he touched it.

Cas remembered looking up pictures of this car on the internet after Gabriel had found out what type of car it was.

 _‘Either this is the biggest coincidence ever or this guy is my soulmate.’_  Cas thought to himself as he began to panic slightly.

_‘There is no way he owns this. Maybe it’s his sisters or something. There is no fucking way that my soulmate is actually a fucking guy. I am not this fucking lucky.’_

Dean soon confirmed that this car was in fact his car when he said, "That's her. This is my baby."

Cas tried to keep his head on straight as he suddenly realized that he was supposed to be giving Dean directions to his house.

Somehow, their conversation became more peaceful as they talked about just normal everyday things. Cas appreciated the change in atmosphere. He was sure his heart would have beat out of his chest if there were too many more surprises tonight.

Cas couldn’t help but notice that Dean continually glanced at him every couple of seconds. He couldn’t really judge though, because he was doing the same thing to Dean.

He just wanted to look at Dean and never look away, but he was pretty damn sure that it would make the kid uncomfortable as hell.

Castiel tried not to feel disappointed when they finally reached his house. He had even made sure that Dean took the long way around just to spend a little longer in the car with Dean.

The two people in the back had fallen asleep on each other so they Cas didn’t feel like he was bothering anyone.

He tried his best to smile and not sound sad when he finally had to get out of the car. It felt so much colder out here than it did in the car with the boy who could possibly be his soulmate.

"Thank you so much Dean. You're the greatest." Cas whispered, looking longingly at the hunk who had just been sitting next to.

Cas wanted to die when the boy smiled at him with those pearly white teeth and said, "Anytime Cas."

Cas held in a sigh as he stepped back to close the car door.

Just before he shit it however, Dean exclaimed, "Cas, wait!"

Cas opened the door back up in confusion. _‘Did I leave something in his car?’_

Cas was about to ask, why he saw Dean hastily looking for something.

His heartrate quickened when the boy finally pulled out a pen and some paper.

His whole body trembled as he watched Dean scrawl something onto the paper.

When Dean held the paper out to him he couldn’t keep his fingers from trembling.

"You should text me sometime. You're a pretty cool guy." Dean said as his fingers closed around the paper.

Cas was speechless, their fingers brushing in the process. Cas felt the fire rip through his body again. He could even see stars jumping before him, making everything else get just a little bit fuzzy around the edges.

Cas thanked Dean quickly, clinging to the phone number like his life depended on it. Their eyes met and Cas swore his legs were about to give out. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t passed out from shock.

Once they finished with their goodbyes, Cas shut the door and watched Dean go.

He let out a long low breath of air as the dark black Impala drifted away from him. He stood there until he was no longer able to hear the low purring of the engine.

Finally, still clinging to the paper, Cas turned and walked towards his house.

As he walked in the door Cas realized that he felt different.

Something had changed in him and he knew that nothing was ever going to be the same.

Maybe when he was done being pissed at Gabriel for leaving him at the party, he’d actually thank him for making him go.


	5. Stuck in my Head (Dean)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to my wonderful beta 'baby_bee_bugg' you are so awesome thank you so much! :D

That night Dean didn’t sleep.

He had struggled getting Jo and Benny upstairs and spent a few minutes getting them set up on the sofas in his living room.

Dean chose to sleep out there with his friends to make sure that he would be there if one of them started puking.

As soon as Jo and Benny’s heads hit the pillow they were asleep again. Dean was envious of the ease they were able to fall back asleep. He could already tell that sleep wouldn’t come so easily to him. His mind was free of alcohol so his thoughts crashed around inside his head like a storm.

His mind was swimming, drowning in an ocean of blue that perfectly matched the shade of Castiel’s eyes.

Castiel’s name seemed to sear itself into his brain. Dean hated it. It was like he had this irrational desire to see Cas over and over again.

His mind kept trying to draw conclusions, but he kept shutting his thoughts out. He wasn’t ready to accept what could be happening here. Dean wasn’t ready for this at all.

 _‘You’re just over reacting,’_ Dean thought to himself. _‘This is probably just because I need to get laid. My body doesn’t care who I sleep with as long as I blow off steam. That’s why Cas had such an impact on me.’_

Dean chewed his lip while his mind raced. _‘That has to be it,’_ he told himself. _‘I’m not fucking gay. I like chick, boobs, and pussy, not dick.’_

Even as Dean thought about this, his mind tried to create images of what Cas would look like pressed underneath his own body.  Dean tried hard to stop his thoughts from imaging what Cas might look like naked. He was going crazy inside of his own head.

Dean clenched his fists in anger then jammed his palms into his eyes. He needed to scrub these thoughts from his brain. It was only going to make sleeping even more hopeless and his desperate dick even harder.

When his hands did nothing to erase the mental pictures flashing behind his eyes Dean threw back the blankets and rushed to the bathroom. He ran to the sink and splashed cold water onto his face.  He needed to calm the fuck down.

While icy water dripped down his face, Dean looked up into the mirror.

His wide green eyes stared back at him in confusion. There was a hint of panic on his face and his cheeks were a dark flushed color. Dean almost didn’t recognize the stressed features that he saw in the mirror.

“I’m not gay.” Dean said out loud. The gruffness of his own voice shocked him; he sounded like he hadn’t spoken in a week.  Dean wasn’t sure why he said it out loud. Maybe it was because he was trying to convince himself that what he was feeling wasn’t real. Society didn’t accept gays. Gay soulmates couldn’t be a thing, could they?  Dean had certainly never heard of it before.

Dean wanted to punch something. He wanted to run forever and never stop to look back. A small part of him also wanted to get back into the car, drive to Castiel’s house and kiss the shit out of him as soon as he opened the door.

Dean curled his fist on the counter. He lifted his hand and brought it down to smash on the counter top.

Instantly pain rocketed thought Dean’s hand and he quickly bit down on his lip to keep from crying out.

When he realized that there was nothing else he could do, Dean turned off the bathroom light and went to go lay back down.

On his way back, Dean ran into Sam, his curly hair sticking in every direction as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

Sam was so tired that he didn’t see Dean and ended up walking right into him.

Dean clasped his hand over his little brother’s mouth to keep him from yelping in surprise.

“Dean?” Sam asked sleepily when Dean finally let him go.

“Go back to bed, Sammy,” Dean scolded his brother.

His mom wouldn’t be happy if she found out that he had accidentally woken Sam up.

“I gotta piss,” Sam grumbled with a yawn. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Dean lied. “Why do you ask?”

“You just seem a bit off,” Sam said with a shrug.

“I’m just tired,” Dean snapped in defense.

“Geez, sorry for asking,” Sam grumbled, before pushing past Dean and slipping into the vacant bathroom.

Afterwards, Dean quickly returned to the sofa with his friends and tried to sleep. His attempt was totally unsuccessful.  Dean ending up staying up all night as his thoughts ate him alive.

Jo and Benny didn’t wake up until much later the next day.

Dean’s eyes were burning from the lack of sleep. Cartoons were playing softly on the TV but his eyes were blurred and unfocused. He wasn’t really watching. How could he when his whole life was being torn apart?

“How long was I out?” came Jo’s voice from her place on the sofa.

“Well, it’s almost noon now, so uhh, a long time.” Dean replied sleepily. He smirked lazily at Jo. He needed to act as normal as possible to keep Jo from noticing that something was wrong.

“God my head hurts so bad!” she complained. Jo clutched her forehead and ground her palms into her eyes.

If Dean were to guess, she was probably hearing a loud pounding against her skull right about now. Dean knew he had let her drink too much last night. He should have been paying more attention. Now Jo was paying the price.

“Did you drink?” Jo asked. Her eyes were still covered and Dean guessed that she was trying to distract herself from the feeling of wanting to barf.

“One drink, but that’s it,” Dean said with a shrug.

“Great! So you remember everything! Who did I bang?” Jo asked him curiously.

Dean shook his head slowly and shrugged. “I dunno. I didn’t know the guy.”

“Was he at least cute?” she pressed him for detail as she looked up.

“I couldn’t tell ya honestly. I wasn’t really paying that much attention,” he said distractedly. He could tell that his attempt at being normal was failing miserably.

Jo cocked her head to the side and stood to move closer to him. She squinted and got right in Dean’s face to the point where he actually had to lean back a little bit. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Jo’s internal alarms seemed to be going off now. There was no way Dean would be able to shake her now; she was on to him.

“Yeah, I’m just peachy,” Dean told her. He grimaced. Dean knew he wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Right, okay,” Jo snorted. She rolled her eyes then drew back her hand to slap him in the face.

Dean cried out in pain as his cheek throbbed slightly.

She hadn’t hit him hard, just enough to draw him out of his stupor, but it still stung.

Dean glared at her, clutching his check. Jo didn’t normally hit him, but she really had one hell of a right hand.

“Better?” she pressed. “Now tell me what’s got your record player skipping a beat.”

“I dunno if I can tell you Jo…” Dean said. His eyebrows crunched together as his pulse quickened.

“And why the hell not?” she asked. Jo sat next to Dean as she gave him an intense look.

“Because, well, I don’t think I even understand it,” Dean admitted honestly.

“Is it about last night?” she asked. “It has to be… you were totally normal until today.”

Dean pursed his lips but said nothing.

“Was it someone you slept with? Did you fuck up Dean?” Jo asked. Her eyes widened in horror.

Dean shook his head. “No, I didn’t sleep with anyone last night.”

Jo looked taken aback. It was if Dean had slapped her in the face too. “What do you mean? You always get laid at parties!” she gasped. “I watched you and some giggly girl getting pretty handsy on the way up the stairs.”

“We didn’t end up doing anything,” Dean shrugged and told her, “I guess I just wasn’t feeling it.”

“Woah! Wait; please tell me you’re not dying or something. You never turn down a good fuck!” Jo exclaimed in shock.

“There was just something… wrong about that girl.” Dean said. “I was happy to get out of there.”

“Okay, so… what happened after the failed lay then? This weird funk you’re in can’t just be sexual frustration,” Jo told him.

Dean wanted to laugh and said, _‘You’d be surprised’,_ but he bit his tongue.

Dean sighed and said, “Okay, you can’t laugh.”

Jo shook nodded her head. “Of course not Dean, just tell me what’s wrong.”

Dean gave a quick glance at his surroundings. He didn’t need Benny or the rest of his family hearing his theory. Jo was already one person too many, but she was his best friend and would take his secret to the grave if he asked her to.

When Dean was sure that no one would overhead them, he covered his face with his hands and said, “I think… I might have… _bonded_ … with my soulmate last night.”

Once Dean got it out there was no taking it back. Beside him, Jo was completely silent.

He had to look up to see if she was even still there.

Jo’s light blue eyes were wide as platters as she stared at him.

“Listen Jo, please don’t tell anyone…” Dean begged her. There was a red blush creeping up his cheeks and flushing across his entire body. He hated this feeling almost as much as he hated the feeling of needing Cas.

“Who is it?” Jo asked breathlessly. “Was it that girl you almost banged?”

Dean shook his head. He kinda wanted to block out those memories. They were painful at best. He had never flipped out on a girl like that. He still wasn’t really sure what had come over him.

Dean shook his head. “Worse…” he rasped.

“Worse?” Jo gasped. Her mind seemed to be spinning. Dean wouldn’t be surprised if her head spontaneously combusted on the spot. “Was it Meg? Please don’t tell me it’s Abaddon… Or, God forbid, Meg…”

Dean shook his head. “No and hell no. I would shoot myself before being Meg’s soulmate.”

“Spill already. The suspense is killing me,” Jo whined. “Do I know her?”

Dean shook his head again. “I don’t think you know who it is. And uh… that ‘her’, is a ‘he’.”

For the second time that morning Jo fell silent.

This silence however, didn’t last nearly as long as her first one.

Dean jumped in surprise when Jo practically exploded.

She clutched at his arm in shock, her mouth gaping while she emitted a strange squealing sound.

“Shhh… You’ll wake up Benny and Sam!” Dean scolded. He tried to shake Jo off of him, but her grip around his bicep was like a boa constrictor.

“But Dean!” She gasped. Her voice was lower now as she tried to understand the situation. “You’re straight! You’re the straightest guy I’ve ever met!”

Dean nodded, “I know! But he just had this effect on me!”  Dean pressed his face into his hands again. “I hate it Jo. It feels right, but I know it’s fucking wrong as hell! I’ve never felt anything so strong before!”

“What did it feel like when it _happened_? Like, how did you know?” Jo’s curiosity was outweighing her hangover at this point. Dean now felt like the one with the hangover. He just wanted to sleep.

His eyes burned and his stomach churned uneasily as he tried to find a way to make his tongue work again. “I dunno… He just kinda… touched my arm- my… marking and well -boom-” Dean made a mini explosion with his hands as he tried to explain. “It was like he had hit me with a Taser, but it didn’t really hurt. My whole body kinda felt like it had been stuck inside a furnace. I felt like I was dying actually, but at the same time it felt like I was in the middle of the best orgasm ever.” Dean tried his best to recount the story but he wasn’t sure that he was doing a very good job.

“So, sparks literally flew when you two met?” she asked eagerly.

Dean shrugged. “I guess so. I mean, I was trying to get your ass into the car when the kid came up to me. ”

“No way, was he that kid who you drove home?” Jo asked as she leaned closer to Dean.

“You actually remember that?” Dean snickered. “You were so drunk last night.”

“Hey, I didn’t say how much I remembered, I just remember you saying that you were going to give him a ride home.”

“I gave him my number…” Dean murmured after a minute. “He probably thinks I’m some kinda creepy ass dude.”

“I’m sure he’s feeling the same jittery feeling as you are Dean,” Jo assured him.

“Do you know how uncommon gay people are?” Dean snapped. “I’ve never even heard of gay soulmates. Have you?”

“No but it doesn’t mean that it’s not possible right?” Jo exclaimed. “I mean, you’re looking at one bisexual bitch right here so I am all down for the gay stuff.”

“But you’re a chick.” Dean scoffed. “That’s different. Girls are already all huggy and kissy on each other.”

“Yeah, and guys literally have to screech ‘ _no homo’_ if they accidentally make eye contact with each other,” Jo snorted.

Dean could sense her heavy sarcasm, but he chose to ignore it. “Yes, exactly. Do you see my dilemma now?”

Jo shrugged. “Not really, but whatever you say Dean.”

“I am fucking straight!” Dean groaned. He flopped backwards onto the sofa while digging his phone from his pocket.

Dean pressed the button on the side of his device and checked the screen when it lit up.

“Oh yeah?” Jo asked, watching him with his phone.

“Yeah,” Dean hummed as he continued to stare at his lock screen.

“So you’re not waiting on him to text you then?” she pressed.

Dean’s face darkened as he realized what he was doing. Subconsciously Dean knew that’s exactly what he had been doing. Since he didn’t have Castiel’s number, that meant Cas could have to text him first. _‘Like he’d ever do that,’_ Dean thought to himself silently.

“No!” Dean snapped in defense. “I was… checking the time….”

“Okay, then what time is it?” Jo was smirking now. She knew that Dean was lying.

“It is… uhmm… time for you to get a fucking watch,” Dean mumbled as Jo started laughing her ass off.

Afterwards, Dean and Jo turned on the TV and watched a rerun of _The Flash._ Dean felt too awkward and uncomfortable to continue their conversation so he simply diverted it.

While they watched TV together Dean’s fingers twitched. He longed to pick up his phone and check it until Castiel messaged him. Dean didn’t dare make a move towards his phone while Jo was there though. She would just smirk at him silently and make him even more uncomfortable.

Although he’d never admit it out loud, Dean felt a little bit better now that he had talked about his situation to someone.

A little while later, Dean had actually managed to drift off to sleep to rest his worn body. Apparently his phone had other ideas, chiming three times in a row and making Dean open his eyes.

Dean had to move slowly because Jo had fallen asleep again too. She was propped up against his arm and her face was buried in his shoulder. Benny was still asleep on the sofa across from them. Dean would have been worried that Benny was dead from alcohol poisoning if he wasn’t snoring so loud.

Using his left hand, Dean lifted his phone and unlocked the screen.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw an unknown number was trying to send him text messages.

 _‘Please don’t let this be Cas.’_  Dean thought to himself. As much as his body tried to tell him otherwise, Dean didn’t want this to be true. There was no way he was going to be paired with another guy. No way in hell. He liked chicks.

He liked their sweet smelling skin and their soft breasts. He liked their long dark muscles, their raven black hair and their electric blue- Dean shook his head. His thoughts had somehow ventured from hot chicks to Cas.

“This is so not happening.” Dean complained under his breath.

Dean sighed softly and finally opened the messages.

_-Hey, thanks for the ride last night. That was really cool._

_-This is Cas by the way._

_-You probably guessed that though…_

As Dean read the first three messages, a fourth one came though. Dean’s heart seemed to be pounding out of his chest. He was surprised that he didn’t wake the whole house with how loud it sounded.

_-If you’re interested, maybe we could hang out or something?_

Dean didn’t know what to say. Did he want to hang out with Cas? Judging by the way his heart was pounding he wanted to, but in his mind alarm bells were going off. Dean knew that this was wrong. Life didn’t work like this. Not his life anyways.

He was supposed to be a free spirit; young, wild, and reckless until his thirties. Then, after that maybe he would find a nice pretty girl and settle down, start a family live the rest of his life.  

This totally fucked up his plans. He never really expected to find his soulmate, especially so soon after he had gotten his marking. It had been less than a year since it happened. Most people claimed that it took years to find their soulmate. Some people never found theirs.

Up until last night Dean hadn’t even believed in soulmates, but his mind was slowly changing. He didn’t want to believe it, but he didn’t have another way to explain it.

 _‘Why do I have to find my soulmate at 19? Why can’t I just be one of those people who never find theirs? I could have been a free man. Sleep with who I want, do whatever I want, go wherever I want. This fucking sucks… why does it have to be a guy? That makes it so much more complicated,’_ he thought to himself. Anger boiled in Dean’s stomach and made him feel even worse.

Dean looked at the texts on his screen. He had no idea what to say back to Cas.

_‘Thanks but no thanks?’_

_‘Sorry man, I’m not gay?’_

_‘No way, it was nice meeting you, but I’m not interested?’_

He ran through a list of possible responses, and with each idea, his replies got worse and worse. Dean couldn’t say any of those things. After all, it had been his idea to give Cas his number. He couldn’t just be a dick and blow him off like that.

 _‘Why did I even give him my number?’_ Dean asked himself.

Dean slowly added Castiel’s number to his phone. He resisted the urge to add hearts after the name. He didn’t need to confuse his brain any more than it already was.

“You better answer the boy or I’m gonna kick your ass into next week,” Jo mumbled sleepily against his arm.

Dean jumped. He didn’t know that she had woken up. “W-what?” he stuttered as he turned his phone away from her.

“You heard me Dean. Reply to the guy,” Jo groaned. She pushed off of Dean and used his body as leverage to sit herself up.

“You are just like your mother,” Dean teased. He gave her a weak smile, but only got a harsh glare in return.

“What are you gonna say to him?” Jo asked when Dean finally had to break eye contact with her.

“I dunno…” Dean hummed. “Can I just turn him down?”

Jo’s eyes darkened in anger. “No fucking way Winchester! Don’t give me any of your solo rider bullshit! You are going to go out with kid at least once!”

“Where the fuck should we even go?” Dean retorted.

“How about the movies?” She suggested. “You can see if he wants to go see the new Star Wars movie! You get to see a kick ass movie plus, there will be minimal talking on your part.”

“But I thought me, you, and Benny were going to see it together!” Dean said. The three of them had planned on stopping by the movies over the weekend to catch the film.

“That can wait. This is worth not watching it with my best friend,” Jo said. She placed a hand on his arm and looked him dead in the eyes as she added, “Besides, who said I’m not gonna drag your ass along with me when I go too. Are you really going to complain about watching that movie more than once?”

“No, but are you really going to make me go to the movies with this guy?” Dean whined. He looked back at the phone and winced. This was already turning into a nightmare.

“Yes, now send him an answer before I do it for you,” Jo said sternly.

“What if he doesn’t like Star Wars?” Dean asked. He was trying to find any way he could to get out of this.

“He couldn’t possibly be your soulmate if he didn’t like Star Wars. That’s like thirty percent of your personality,” Jo teased. “Text him!”

“You are the bossiest chick I have ever met.” Dean complained.

“I love you too Dean,” She joked.

Dean knew that she was doing this for him, but he didn’t want this. Well, he didn’t think he wanted this.

Dean sighed and quickly typed back a message to Cas suggesting the movie idea.

Castiel’s response came faster than Dean had expected.

_-‘That sounds wonderful! Are you free tomorrow?’_

“He texts weird!” Dean complained as he threw his head back.

“How is that weird Dean?” Jo asked in disbelief.

“I dunno…  It just is!” Dean grumbled. He was honestly just trying to find any excuse not to go at this point.

“You’re the weird one Dean,” Jo scoffed. She shook her head in disbelief. “Just tell him that tomorrow works.”

Dean grumbled under his breath and shot Jo an undeserved dirty look. Jo just smiled smugly back at him and helped him type out a reply.

After they looked it up, they found Star Wars playing at 12:30, so they planned on meeting at the theater around that time.

“There, happy?”  Dean grunted as he tossed his phone aside.

“Yep!” Jo bubbled.  “I’m hungry, let’s get some food!”

“Food sounds great!” Dean agreed. His stomach growled to back him up. Food might help him forget about Cas for a little while.

“Should we leave Benny?” Jo asked as she looked at the sleeping boy.

“Yeah…” Dean hummed. “He is gonna hate waking up. His hangover is gonna be worse than yours.”

“True…” Jo agreed.

With that, the two of them quietly snuck out of the living room and down the stairs.

They made it into the kitchen easily. When they entered, Dean found that his mom was already awake and cooking pancakes.

“Hey mom!” Dean said with a smile.

“Good morning honey. Well, after noon now.” Mary said with a smile.

“Hey Mrs. Winchester!” Jo said with a pleasant smile on her face.

“Hello Jo.” Mary beamed. “Crazy night?”

Jo chucked and turned red. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Mary laughed and said, “Did you two have fun?”

“Oh hell yeah!” Jo exclaimed.

“I’m assuming there was no underage drinking or crazy hookups right?” Mary asked with a wink.

Jo snorted and snickered as she said, “No, no way, of course not.” You could hear the joking sarcasm in both of their voices.

Dean was laughing freely at the two of them. Mary was such an easy person to get along with. All of Dean’s friends loved her.

“How’s Benny?” Mary asked as she looked towards the stairs.

Jo shrugged and said, “Pretty rough, but he’ll get over it.”

The playful banter continued between Jo and Mary while Mary cooked.

Dean smiled and laughed at their jokes but stayed silent for most of the time. He enjoyed just listening to the interesting topics that were being discussed.

“Dean, sweetheart, are you feeling alright?” Mary asked him when she placed plates of food on the table.

“Yeah, I’m fine mom,” Dean said. He smiled up into his mother’s beautiful face as she looked down at him in concern.

Mary reached out and placed her hand onto his forehead. Her brow furrowed slightly as she said, “You’ve got a slight fever. How much did you drink last night?”

Dean pulled away from his mother’s gentle fingers and chuckled nervously as he said, “Only one beer.”

Mary’s face only grew more concerned. She looked to Jo for confirmation.

“He was the designated driver last night,” Jo said with a shrug. “He didn’t drink a whole lot.”

“That was very responsible of you,” Mary said with a warm smile at her son.

Jo snorted and said, “I think it was just because he didn’t want anyone else driving the Impala.”

Dean scoffed and threw a piece of his pancake at her. “Well I wasn’t about to let you crash her!”

Mary laughed and shook her head, but she let the subject drop.

After they were done eating, Dean woke up a very grumpy Benny. Eventually, Dean managed to shuffle both Jo and Benny to the car. The two of them had to head home before it got too late. Both of them had jobs at the Roadhouse with Ellen and their shifts were coming up soon.

After Dean got back home, his mother found him. Dean was in his room straightening up things when he heard a soft knock at the door.

“It’s open!” Dean called out.

He turned when he heard the soft squeaking of the door hinges.

“Hey mom,” Dean said in surprise. He had expected to see Sammy.

“Hey honey. Do you have a minute?” his mom asked.

Dean nodded. “Of course.” Dean watched his mom as she moved to sit down on his bed.

“What’s up?” Dean asked her.

“Did anything happen at the party last night?” she asked, looking up at him with her dark, knowing eyes.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked warily.

Mary shrugged softly and said, “Anything… special.”

Dean narrowed his eyes slightly. _‘She couldn’t know about the soulmate thing could she?’_ He thought to himself. Dean really wasn’t ready to talk about this with her. Even talking to Jo about it had been a stretch. At least Dean had known that Jo was okay with gay and bisexual people. With his mom, Dean had no idea where she stood on the matter.

Dean looked at the floor and said, “Uhmm, no, not really.”

He hated lying to his mom, but he really didn’t want to tell her about what had happened.

“So, you didn’t meet anyone special last night?” Mary pressed.

Dean shook his head, still looking at the floor and said, “Nope.”

Mary sighed lightly and said, “I know the look Dean. I can see it written all over your face. Who is it?”

“Can’t we drop it mom?” Dean pleaded.

“Can you at least tell me a name?” Mary asked.

Dean shook his head again. “No… I’m sorry mom…”

“Is he cute?” Mary asked. A small smile was building on her face.

Dean felt a smile building on his own face as he thought about Castiel’s dark black hair, that strange tan trench coat and those electric blue eyes.

“Yeah, yeah he is…” Dean hummed. Seconds later Dean’s eyes widened in horror.

Had it been his imagination or had his mother asked if _he_ was cute.

Mary’s kind eyes looked at him with love and adoration. That look alone told Dean that he hadn’t misheard her.

“How did you…” Dean trailed off. There was no way his mom could have known that his soulmate was a guy.

“I just had a feeling,” Mary said softly.

“But I’m- I’m not… gay,” Dean said in a hushed voice. He didn’t want Sam to overhear the conversation.  

“You can’t choose your soulmates darling,” Mary’s voice was comforting as she spoke. Dean watched her stand and move closer to him.

He felt his moms arms wrap around him and pull him into a hug. Dean nestled closer and lifted his own arms to hug her back.

“But… it’s impossible. I didn’t even know soulmates could work like that,” Dean protested.

His mother hair smelled sweet and flowed down her back like silk. Dean loved the way that it felt against his face.

“Nothing is impossible baby,” Mary whispered as she ran her fingers though his short hair. “I just want you to know that I’m happy for you, and that I’m so proud of the man you have become. I am here for you no matter what.”

Dean hugged his mom even tighter.  She always seemed to know just what to say. “Thanks mom.” Dean whispered into her hair.

Dean could feel his mom smiling into his shoulder. After a minute she lifted her head and kissed the side of his cheek. Dean was taller than her now, so she couldn’t kiss him on the top of the head anymore.

When his mom pulled back she smiled and asked, “So are still going to keep the detail of this guy a secret from me?”

Dean blushed and rolled his eyes. He wasn’t sure why he was blushing though. Dean barely knew the guy. He shouldn’t be feeling like this about him already.

“Fine…” Dean muttered with his head bowed. “He’s uh… tall. Well, a little shorter than me I guess. Dark hair that looks like it needs a good comb through. He was wearing this tan trench coat like all night. I’m not even joking. Like it was a billion degrees in that place, but the guy still wore it.” Dean paused.  He was thinking about the boy’s best features.

Dean smiled slightly when he thought of those beautiful eyes. After a second Dean spoke again. His voice sounded distant and soft now. “He also had these… _amazing,_ blue eyes. They caught my attention the moment he walked in. “

Mary beamed up at him. Her eyes seemed to be sparkling now. It was like she was hearing the best story ever told.

“They really are stunning mom. Think of the bluest ocean you’ve ever seen and triple that. His eyes were filled with every kinda of blue you could imagine and they sparkled. They literally sparkled,” Dean continued.

“He sounds wonderful honey,” Mary breathed in awe. “How did you finally meet him?”

“I ended up giving him a ride back to his house. His older brother dragged him to the party and ditched him,” Dean explained. “Apparently the kid doesn’t party much.”

“He might be able to teach you a thing or two about parties then,” Mary teased.

Dean smirked at Mary as mischief shone in her beautiful eyes.

“Do I get a name?” Mary pressed. It was clear that she wanted to know everything about this guy.

“Cas.” Dean stared, “Well, that’s what I called him. His name is Castiel.”

“That’s a lovely name!” Mary exclaimed.

Dean nodded. “I’m going to see a movie with him tomorrow.”

Somehow, his mom’s smile grew even bigger. Dean didn’t think it was possible for someone to smile that much.

“What movie?”

“The new Star Wars one.” Dean explained.

“Don’t you think Jo will kill you if you go without her?” his mom asked with a small laugh.

Dean snorted. “Believe it or not, that was actually her idea.”

Mary rolled her eye. “Of course it was. That girl is something else. She figured it out too didn’t she?”

Dean nodded and smiled softly.

“She doesn’t miss a thing,” Mary breathed.

His mom pulled Dean back in for another hug and said, “I’m so happy for you baby. I know this seems kind of scary right now, but things will get easier. Just go with it and follow your instincts. Please promise me you’ll be careful. I’m sure you’re aware of how people feel about this matter.”

Dean nodded solemnly. “I know… That’s part of what I’m worried about.”

“I know you’ll be fine honey. I just want you to be safe,” Mary said softly.  

Downstairs, they both heard the front door open.

John was home.

“I won’t mention this to him or your brother,” Mary said. It was like she could read Dean’s mind. “I will let you do that when you’re ready,” she assured him.

Dean loved his father. He was a great man, but Dean wasn’t sure that his father would be okay with Dean’s soulmate. Dean still honestly wasn’t sure he was okay with it himself, but he still had to give it a chance. He needed to do it for Jo and his mom, but Dean mostly needed to do this for Cas. You only live once right? He might as well take the jump head first and hope that he doesn’t get tossed to the sharks.

At least he had some time to figure things out. It was just one date. If it didn’t work out, he could forget that it never happened.

“Thanks mom.” Dean whispered. He pulled Mary in for one more hug before finally letting go.

“I love you Dean.” Mary whispered.

“Love you too mom.”

Dean watched as his mother left the room and shut the door behind her.

He took a deep breath and looked at his phone.  Each minute that passed counted one minute closer to the movie date with Cas.

His mother had given him the boost of confidence that he needed.  He wasn’t feeling nearly as panicked as before.

Tomorrow would be a new day. Hopefully he’d be able to get though it without freaking out. It wouldn’t be easy, but he would try his best.


	6. Changes (Cas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy I'm finally back after being gone for far too long! I dunno what happened over summer break! Time just seemed to get away from me, but I am back and ready to post new updates! I wanna get all my fics back on the road again and start updating more again! <3 Sorry for the long waits you guys!

Castiel's hands were shaking. He couldn't believe that this was happening. Could Dean actually be his soulmate? Was this actually possible? Something deep within Castiel’s chest was telling him yes, Dean was destined to become his life partner, but logic was trying to tell him otherwise. Cas just couldn’t believe all this was real.

In a daze Cas watched Dean back up and pull out of the driveway. He felt a strange emptiness filling him as Dean drove off. Cas wanted nothing more than to keep Dean here for the rest of his life. Not in like a creepy stalker way or anything, but more like he wanted to spend the rest of his life getting to know this beautiful boy. There was just something about him that Cas just couldn’t shake.

Cas stood there motionless until the Impala’s taillights vanished into the cool night air. Even after the car was gone, Cas seemed to have trouble getting his legs to work. He felt like he was made of Jell-O. His whole body was quivering with energy and excitement. The air around him seemed to hum with electric currents and the crickets hiding in the dark grasses seemed to be chirping with joy. Cas knew something extraordinary had happened tonight and he couldn’t wait to see where destiny was leading him.

The loud cry of an owl jolted Cas from his trance and scared him. His heart was pounding from the surprise and made him realized that he should probably head inside. Cas knew that he should really get changed and try to get some sleep.

On wobbly legs Cas somehow managed to get back inside, locking the door securely behind him. He felt like he was floating on a cloud, nothing around him seemed to be real. Everything had begun to blur together, sounds and colors mixing together into something indistinguishable. Stuck in this dreamlike state, Cas managed to drag himself past the living room. As he wanted deeper into the house, Cas found Gabriel and Ruby. The two of them were squished on the sofas getting a little more than frisky with each other. Cas didn’t really want to bear witness to what they would be doing next.

Gabriel was far too drunk and far too busy putting his head underneath Ruby’s skirt to see Castiel as he passed. Cas was sure that he could have come inside with a marching band in toe and Gabriel still wouldn’t have noticed his arrival. He basically had a one track mind when he was drunk. Once he got fixated on something, it was hard to change his course. Normally that irritated the fuck out of Cas, right now, he didn’t really care what the hell his brother was doing Cas was in his own perfect little bubble and he would deal with Gabriel and his stupidity later.

Cas drifted upstairs, his mind filled with thoughts of Dean. He wanted to know absolutely everything about Dean. His face seemed to be permanently imprinted into Castiel’s brain. He never wanted to forget such a glorious and angelic looking face. Cas wanted to stare at Dean forever and get lost within that deep sea of green sparkling eyes. He had never seen eyes more beautiful than Dean’s. Cas wanted to gaze into those deep soulful orbs as he tangled his fingers into Dean’s sandy blonde hair. His mind pictured them cuddling together, talking for hours and sharing their innermost thoughts with one another. Most of all, Cas wanted to know what it was like to kiss those full, plush lips of his. Dean’s lips just seemed so kissable!  Cas was a sap and he knew it. He couldn’t help it! He had always been fond of those fairytales with the happy endings. Cas kinda hoped that his life could end up like one of those.

Cas placed a hand over his heart. He could feel his heart beating painfully against his ribs, almost hard enough to hurt.  He longed to be back inside that car sitting beside Dean. Although the two of them hadn’t been alone, Dean had been the very center of Castiel’s attention.

He felt like all his problems would instantly be absolved if he was with Dean again. Nothing else would matter if he was back by Dean’s side. Never in his life had he felt anything this strong. This had to be what people felt when they finally met their soulmate. Cas had no other explanation for this overwhelming feelings building up inside him. This feeling was almost nauseating.

Cas shucked off his clothing and slipped into a pair of soft flannel pajama bottoms. Once he was changed, he flopped down onto his bed and stared up at the popcorn ceiling. Absentmindedly he wondered if Dean was feeling the desperate longing that he was. Could this feeling be mutual or was it possible that this all was simply in his mind? Was he seriously so hungry for affection that was trying to see things where there was nothing? Cas didn’t want to be alone in this. He needed to know more. He needed to know if Dean was the one he was destined to spend the rest of forever with.

Cas had heard stories of people who never found their soulmate; the ones who died without ever finding their lovers. What a cold cruel life that must be. Worse still, Cas had heard stories of one sided bond. One person would find their soulmate only to learn that their ‘soulmate’ didn’t feel the same way.  Then it just turned into a crazy love triangle that always ended in tragedy. Cas didn’t think he’d be able to handle a disappointment like that. His heart would probably shatter into a hundred million unfixable little pieces. How could he, or anyone, be able to life bonded to someone who would never love them back the same way?

Cas shook of the thought and went back to thinking about Dean. It felt much better to think of the positives rather than the negatives.

 _‘This all makes sense in a way…’_ Cas thought to himself. _‘I mean, what I’m feeling inside, it’s new and extraordinary. I felt it as soon as I touched him! That spark between us was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Plus he his car is the exact same car as my marking! This can’t just be a random coincidence, things like this happen for a reason.’_

Cas knew that one way or another he _had_ to see Dean again. He had to know for sure if this was the sign, _the feeling that_ he had been searching for all his life. Dean could hold the rest of Castiel’s future in his hands.

 _‘I should text him!’_ Cas thought eagerly. _‘I should ask him out! Then I could really find out of this is the real thing.’_

 He felt giddy and light headed as he imagined all the potential that they had together. Cas needed to talk with someone about this. There was no way that he could keep all these emotions to himself! His heart fell a little when he realized that he didn’t really have anyone to talk to about this. He had one close friend, Balthazar, but Cas knew that he wouldn’t understand. He was sort of like Gabriel; Balthazar loved to sleep around a lot. The only thing that set him apart from Gabriel was the fact that Balthazar was bisexual. Somehow, Balthazar had the ability to charm any man or woman and get them in bed with him. According to Balthazar, there were far more men than you’d expect who are willing to try out gay sex at least once. Cas wasn’t sure how much stock could be placed on Balthazar’s stories, but it did give him a little bit of hope for the future.

Cas sighed softly and secretly wished that he could call his mother and ask her about all this like a normal mom. He wanted to have a mom who was like the ones his friends had or the ones he saw on TV. He wanted a mother who smiled lovingly at him, praised his achievements, and gave him a shoulder to cry on. Cas knew that moms were supposed to be perfect, but that wasn’t the point. He wanted his mom to treat him like he was actually her child instead of being a detached caregiver. He knew his mom loved him; she just had a strange way of showing it. Cas hadn’t actually talked to her since he had moved out to live with Gabriel.

Cas suddenly wondered why his parents had never talked about what it had felt like when they met each other. They had never talked about the moment when they met and knew that they were destined to be together. Never once had Cas heard them mention the special bond that was between them. Up until now, Cas never really knew if you were supposed to feel different if you finally met your soulmate. A cold shiver shot down his spine as he wondered if his parents hadn’t really been soulmates. His parents had always claimed to be soulmates, but were they really?

That would make his parents the biggest hypocrites ever. His mother Becky always spoke about how important it was to stay pure and untouched by another sexual partner until you met the one that God had chosen for you. You were supposed to save yourself for ‘the one’. His father Chuck supported his mother completely and he would always lecture Cas and his brothers about this.

Michael, always being such a perfect son, stayed out of relationships, swearing to wait for the day that he met his soulmate. From what Cas had heard, Michael had finally found _the one_ after waiting for ages. Cas hadn’t spoken to his oldest brother in years so he wasn’t really sure what was going on in his eldest brother’s life, but he had heard good things. Michael had sent a Christmas letter a while back explaining the events in his life. Since the last time Cas had seen Michael his brother had become the CEO of some big time company, and gotten married. He now lived somewhere down in West Virginia.

Cas sighed, he wished he had more friends right about now. Part of him really wanted to message Dean, but it was already 2am so he was pretty sure that a phone call would be anything but welcome at this hour. He sighed and pressed his lips together tightly, _‘I’ll send him something tomorrow.’_ Cas thought to himself. That would probably be better.

Then, he tried his best to sleep so morning would come faster.

~~~

Hours later, Cas learned that insomnia had decided to keep him company tonight. Sleep would be very hard for him to find tonight. Cas kept tossing and turning, unable to get comfortable as his mind raced.

Thoughts of Dean kept filling his head and were distracted him from everything else. He felt like he was hyped up on about fifty pounds of caffeine and sugar. Was this was it felt like to be in love with someone?

The next time that Cas checked the clock it was four in the morning.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cas groaned before rolling onto his stomach and pulling his pillow over his head. “I need to sleeeep.”

After a minute, Cas slowly pulled his head out from under the blankets and stared at the green digital numbers on his clock again. He ran his fingers through his scraggly hair and then reached for his phone.

He needed to talk to someone about this or his brain would fucking explode.

Cas scrolled quickly through his contacts, hesitating only for second before finally pressing the call button.

He pulled the phone to his ear while his heart pounded in his throat. “Come on… pick up the phone…” Cas pleaded after the third unanswered ring.

By the fourth ring Cas had given up hope.

On the fifth ring, he heard the line pick up and his stomach leapt in both fear and excitement.

“What do you want Castiel?” his brother Michael asked from the other line. His voice was low and husky as he continued. “Do you realize that it’s five in the morning here?”

Cas felt a little guilty for waking up his brother so early, but at Michael could get over it. “Sorry Michael… I-I just… do you have a minute to talk?” Cas asked in a small voice.

“I… are you serious Castiel? This couldn’t wait? What could be so important that you had to call this fucking early? Especially since we haven’t talked in what, a year and a half?” the irritation in his voice was clear through the thickness of sleep.

Cas had known this would be a long shot, he should have never bothered Michael in the first place. Michael had really been his only hope though.

“Never mind then… Forget that I called. Sorry Mike.” Cas hummed in disappointment. He was about to pull the phone away from his ear and hang up when Michael’s voice stopped him.

“Wait. Castiel.” Michael paused, “What… what was it that you wanted to talk about? Are you alright?”

Michael’s curiosity and brotherly concern was peaking now. Although in the past the two of them hadn’t gotten along to well, Michael still cared about Cas.

Cas paused as he tried to assemble his thoughts into a coherent sentence. Apparently he had stayed quiet for too long because Michael asked, “Castiel? Are you still there?”

“Y-yeah… I’m still here.” Cas whispered. “I just… can you tell me what it felt like when _you knew_ …” Cas trailed off.

“Knew? Knew what? You’re not making any sense.” Michael’s voice was filled with confusion. His voice darkened as he added, “You better not be drunk. You’re not even 21 yet Castiel. I swear if you are hammered right now I will personally fly to Kansas and kick your ass for being stupid, and Gabriel’s for getting you a fake ID.”

“I’m not drunk Mike, I don’t drink okay. I never have.” Cas assured his brother. “What I meant was… what did it feel like when you met _her?_ Y-your soulmate… er umm… _your wife_.”

Cas heard a hitch in Michael’s breath, then silence on the other end of the line. He almost though Michael had hung up on him.

“Mike?” Cas questioned, hoping to hear his brother respond.

“Did… did you meet someone Cas?” Michael asked. His voice was longer anger. It had now had taken on a tone that Cas had never heard before. Michael almost sounded… _proud_ of Cas. He really must have caught Michael off guard because his brother rarely used the shorten version of Castiel’s name. That was more of Gabriel’s thing.

Cas blushed and shrugged silently then remembered Michael couldn’t see him so he said, “Maybe… I dunno I just- I feel… different.”

“When did you meet her?” Michael pressed.

Cas flinched at the word ‘her’, but he chose to ignore it. He wasn’t planning on telling Michael that this was about a guy. Cas was pretty sure that the conversation would be over long before it began. He had never planned on mentioning it anyways.

“I- tonight. I met… it happened tonight.”  he paused, thinking of a way to talk about this without adding any gender specific pronouns.

Cas felt like if he referred to Dean as a ‘her’, he would be betraying his true feelings for Dean and denying himself of his own sexuality.

“Where were you guys at? Like how did it happen?” Michael pressed.

Castiel’s blush deepened. He knew Michael wouldn’t like what he said next, but it would be easier to tell him where they met. It would be easier than lying about it and forgetting his cover story later on.  Besides, he was 19 now; he was allowed to go to out late if he wanted to.

“At a party…” Cas admitted. He didn’t have to see Michael’s face to know that his brother’s nose was scrunched up in displeasure and disapproval. “Gabriel wanted me to go, I told him I would. The party kind sucked to be honest. There were too many drunks and I didn’t know anyone there.” Cas continued. “When it started getting late I tried to find Gabriel so we could go home, but he had bailed with his new girlfriend-”

Michael interrupted him at this point to ask, “Wait, what happened to Bella?”

Cas pursed his lips. “She was like five girlfriends ago man. He’s dating a chick named Ruby now.”

“That dumbass.” Michael moaned. “Ruby is a bitch! I went to school with her older sister and had the misfortune of meeting the little backstabber a few times.”

“Yeah I’ve tried to tell him that she’s no good, but he doesn’t believe me. He’ll find out on his own I guess.”

“She’s gonna break his heart…” Michael said with sadness in his voice. “Someone outta knock some sense into that kid…”

There was an awkward pause where neither of them knew what to say. They both knew it was true. Gabriel was destined to get his heart broken over and over again. He always picked the worst women to date.

Michael suddenly cleared his throat and gruffly said, “Anyways… continue with your story.”

Cas swallowed hard before talking again. It took him a second to recall where he had left off.  “Right, so uh… Gabe bailed on me and left me at the party so I was just gonna walk home. The party wasn’t super far from our place, but it was far enough to be a really crappy walk. Then saw someone else who was leaving the party so I walked over to see if I could get a ride. When I got close, I reached out and tapped one of their arms to get their attention and then…”

Cas trailed off, remembering the sparkling, electric, unearthly feeling that had surged through his body the moment that he touched Dean’s arm. The mere thought of that sensation made shivers run down Castiel’s spine.

“Fireworks…” Michael whispered on the other end of the line.

“Yeah…” Cas murmured, still lost within his thoughts, “Fireworks…”

Michael was totally silent for a full minute before saying anything else. Cas almost forgot anyone was on the other line. He himself was too absorbed in his own thoughts, to really take note of the silence.

“I can’t believe it…” his brother said in a hushed voice. “You found her Cas. You found your soulmate.”

“For real?” Cas asked eagerly. His brother’s words instantly yanked Castiel’s mind back into the real world.

“I am pretty damn sure!” Michael exclaimed; his voice grew louder in his excitement. “Now you can’t stop thinking about her right? It’s like you can’t function at all unless you get her to be yours right?”

“Exactly like that!” Cas replied, a strange relief flooding his veins.

“Did you two get a chance to talk about it?” Michael asked.

“No… Neither of us said a single thing about it.” Cas mumbled sadly. “It was so weird Michael, like I couldn’t tell it the feeling was one sided or not-”

Michael interrupted him. “I assure you that it’s not one sided Castiel. I know what you’re thinking, but those old wives tales that kids pass around in grade school about one sided soulmates aren’t real.”

“Yeah but still… neither of us made any acknowledgement of this thing between us. Not a single word.” Cas said, his voice quivering slightly as he spoke.

 “Did you get her number at least?”

“Yeah, I got it when I was dropped off at home.”

“Did you ask for it or did she give it to you?”

“Gave it to me.” Cas replied.

“Well there you go! She offered her number to you! That means she is most probably interested in you too!!”  Michael told him. Cas could hear relief in his brother’s voice. “She’s just shy about this. That’s all, no need to worry Cas. Some girls are shy about their feelings.”

Cas figure that it made sense. If Dean felt the same way, he might be a little shy and wary about it. Hell Dean might even be scared of it. Cas sure as hell was. As good as it felt to know his soulmate was a guy, Cas was still terrified deep inside. No one would understand this thing between them. How could they?  Homosexual soulmates wasn’t something was supposed to exist. Cas would completely understand if Dean was terrified of the strange new feelings inside.

 “What should I do then?” Cas asked hesitantly.

Michael paused, pondering the question for a second before saying, “Try and get some sleep if you can. It won’t be easy, but you need a clear mind tomorrow. Put on some soothing music, or watch a show or something. Then, when you wake up tomorrow, call her up, or maybe text her.”

“What do I say?”

Michael chuckled slightly. “You always had a little trouble talking to girls.”

 _‘Or people I have a crush on in general…’_ Cas thought to himself. He always got flustered when girls tried to flirt with him. He didn’t know how to handle it or tell them that he wasn’t interested. When he was around cute guys he stumbled over his words and just came off as weird and awkward. Cas wasn’t too skilled when it came to human interaction.

“Yeah I’m aware of that. Please help me!” Cas persisted.

“Calm down, calm down. I’ll help you don’t worry.” Michael assured him. “In the morning send her a text thanking her for the ride then ask if she’d be interested in going on a date.”

“To where?”

Michael sighed, but laughed softly, “Where ever you want Castiel. Maybe go out for a picnic and a walk in the park, or a nice restaurant. Even a trip to the movies could work. If you really can’t decide have her pick. I am sure that she will say yes no matter. She just wants to get a chance to hang out and get to know you better.”

Cas was silent, absorbing as much of Michael’s advice as he could.

Michael must have taken Castiel’s silence for doubt because he said, “It will be alright Cas. This will be one of the best things that ever happened to you. You’ll see. I promise.”

“Hey Michael.” Cas whispered.

“Yeah Cas?” His brother replied with a strange softness in his voice.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime. It’s so nice to hear your voice again.” Michael told him.

“Back at ya brother.” Cas said with a small sad smile on his face. He knew that this peace between them would only last for so long. As soon as Michael learned that Castiel’s soulmate was a guy, Cas was sure that they’d never speak again. “Well, I guess I’m gonna let you head back to sleep with that pretty wife of yours. “

Cas heard the gentle smile on his face when he spoke, “Yeah, she really is wonderful Cas. She is perfect for me. You’ll soon find that out with this girl of yours.” he heard the pride and joy in Michael’s voice when he spoke of his wife. Cas had never heard his brother sound quite this happy.

 “I can’t wait.” Cas breathed. “You’ll have to tell me all about your wife next time we talk.”

“Yeah, and you can tell me more about your lovely girl too.”

“Absolutely.” Cas replied, adding a silent _‘not’_ in his head.

“Good night Castiel.”

“Night Michael.” Cas whispered back, “And hey, could you not tell mom or dad yet? I wanna tell ‘em on my own time.”

“Of course.” Michael replied, “Good night brother.”

“Good night.”

Cas hung up the phone and sighed. He pressed the phone against his face and thought about everything that Michael had said.

The conversation had gone far better than he had expected. It was nice to talking with Michael again. As much as Michael had tormented and picked on him ask kids, they were still brothers. Besides, Michael seemed to have grown up a lot since they last talked.

Cas finally set his phone aside, and rolled back over in his bed. He tugged the blankets around himself and settled in for what he was sure would be a totally sleepless night.

~~~

When Castiel cracked his eyes open, sunlight assaulted his sleepy eyes. He must have eventually fallen asleep when his brain got too clouded to think anymore. Even so, he probably got three hours of sleep tops. Cas rubbed at his tired eyes and sat up. His head was pounding and his lids drooped. It didn’t really feel like had gotten any sleep at all.

Instead of trying to go back to sleep, Cas got up. He knew there really was no point in trying. Instead he turned his attention to his stomach as it growled noisily at him. Breakfast sounded pretty good right about now. Maybe some coffee too, that might make him feel a little more awake.

He clambered from his bed, not caring enough to throw on a shirt. He shuffled his feet along the floor as he wandered downstairs.  Once he got into the kitchen he quickly put on a pot of coffee and poured himself of bowl of cereal. The smell of coffee soon filled the air as he sat down in silence to eat his breakfast.

Lazily he ate his breakfast and scrolled through his tumblr feed on his phone. He hoped that tumblr might help distract his mind from thoughts of Dean.

The sound of feet shuffling sleepily across the floor caught Castiel’s attention. He looked towards the kitchen door and immediately wished that he hadn’t.

“Aw! Gabe! Come on! Where the fuck are your pants?” Cas complained, shielding his eyes from his brother, who was completely naked.

He heard Gabriel laughed lightly. Gabriel grabbed a mug and walked over to the coffee pot as it finished its brew. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch Cassie! This is a natural human state. You should try it sometime; it feels nice to have a breeze down between-”

“Can’t you at least wear your boxers or something? I don’t wanna have to see your junk all day.” Cas grumbled. He refused to look back over at his brother and instead watched the little pieces of cereal get soggy in the bowl.

“You know… if this is about feeling inadequate-”

“Just stop Gabriel.” Cas interrupted his brother. “All I want is for you to _please_ , put on some clothes.”

Gabriel held up his hands defensively and said, “I’m just saying, size isn’t everything Cassie.”

“Clothes. _Now._ ” Cas demanded as he pointed back towards the living room.

“Well, you ain’t wearing much yourself baby bro.” Gabriel said with a smirk. Then he bounded out of the kitchen, coffee held firmly in hand.

“At least I have the decency to cover myself up…” Cas said to himself.

Cas sighed and stood, picking up his cereal bowl and dumping it out. He didn’t really feel all that hungry anymore, plus his food had kind of turned into a soggy mess.

Cas felt like his eyes had been violated by his brother’s nakedness. He really wanted to take a shower now.

As he rushed from the kitchen, he almost crashed into Ruby. Castiel’s eyes widened in surprise; he didn’t know that she was still here. At least she was wearing some clothes.

Ruby’s hair was a mess, clearly the result of sex and sleeping on the sofa. She was wearing a pair of red lacy underwear, and one of Gabriel’s shirts. The shirt was baggy on her, but it still barely covered her ass.

“Morning Castiel.” she hummed, giving him a quick once over with her icy cold eyes.

“Morning.” Cas replied. He refused to make eye contact and quickly rushed past her to get up the stairs. He had no desire to make small talk with her. Cas just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

He made sure to take a very long shower. The steam filled the air and clung to his skin. There was a deep seeded itch that was slowly creeping up his body. He could feel it in his very core and Cas suspected that his feelings for Dean was what was causing him to be so tense.

After his shower he wrapped his tow

It was little after twelve when he finally grabbed his phone and opened his messages. Cas had secretly been stalling so he would half to text Dean. Excitement and fear filled his chest. He desperately wanted to talk to Dean but he was also scared of rejection. Cas wasn’t sure he’d know what to do with himself if Dean turned him down.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and stared down at his phone. This was going to much harder than it should be. He quickly fished Dean’s number out of his pants and typed it into his phone contacts. His fingers drummed nervously along the side of the phone as he thought about what he should say.

After about a minute he typed:  

_-Hey, thanks for the ride last night. That was really cool._

As soon as he hit send Cas panicked. His mind was racing faster than his heart and we began to tap his foot against the floor. Barely ten second after the first message sent, Cas quickly sent off another text to Dean without thinking.

_-This is Cas by the way._

He knew he was over thinking this whole thing, but he couldn’t calm himself down. His anxiety was soaring through the roof and impairing all rational decisions. Castiel felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment when he realized that Dean probably would have guessed who this was without introduction. His fingers shook as he quickly typed out another text.

_-You probably guessed that though..._

He felt kind of stupid now.

Cas realized that he had already messed this up pretty badly so Cas threw all caution to the wind. Cas followed his gut instinct finally typed out a fourth text and sent it.

_-If you're interested, maybe we could hang out or something?_

At least this way Cas wouldn’t be worrying about how to bring up the subject. He knew it was being pretty blunt, but at least he hadn’t chickened out before the punch.

Cas waited for what seemed like an eternity for Dean to reply. He sat and stared down at the messages. Cas was just a mess as he waited with bated breath for Dean to say something back… _anything_.

After about five minutes (which felt more like five years) Cas forced himself to put down his phone. He couldn’t stand the suspense of waiting. This was almost worse than waiting to send the texts.

Cas fell backwards onto his bed, spreading his arms wide as he stared blankly at the flat expanse of ceiling above him.

He closed his eyes tightly to block out the light that was flooding into his room.

Behind his closed lids all Cas could see was Dean’s perfect face.  It just, it was impossible not to think about him. Every time Cas tried to steer his thoughts in a new direction, he would somehow find a way to tie it all back to Dean. Cas wanted to know everything about Dean, what he liked, what he hated, what made Dean tick. Cas wanted to know it all.

The mere thought of his beauty was enough make Castiel’s heart skip a beat. Dean’s face was covered in a light smattering of freckles that looked like their own little pattern of constellations. Cas longed to sit down and count those freckles until he knew exactly how many there were on Dean’s perfectly tanned skin. Cas felt weak in the knees and he began to worry that he might simply pass out from Dean’s perfection. 

Suddenly he was pulled from his daydream when his phone went off, telling him that he had a new message.

Castiel’s heart was in his throat as he quickly sat up and fumbled for his phone. He almost dropped his phone in his haste.

His stomach felt queasy as he opened the messages. He refused to give his brain the chance to wonder what type of horrendous angry text he might have gotten back.

Cas wouldn’t let himself think of all the reasons why he and Dean might not work out. Cas couldn’t handle that type of mind set right now.  

Castiel’s heart stopped when he read the message. He couldn’t believe his luck. Things might actually work out in his favor.

_-Hey Cas, yeah that sounds great. You wanna go see that Star Wars movie?_

Castiel's hands were shaking. He couldn't believe that this was happening. He was a huge Star Wars and apparently Dean was too. Castiel eagerly replied and asked if he was free the next day.

The weight of the world seemed to be slipping off his shoulders as the two of them worked out which showing they would see and which theater were going to. Cas hadn’t realized how stressed he had really been until everything just melted away. Things just seemed so much easier now. He wondered why he had been so worried in the first place. All the pieces were finally slipping into place.

After the two of them finished making their arrangements, Cas practically skipped down the stairs.

Gabriel gave Cas a strange look when he walked into the kitchen.

“You seem to be in a better mood now.” Gabriel commented. He was standing in front of the stove making grill cheese sandwiches. They smelled absolutely amazing.

“Yep!” Cas hummed back. “Did Ruby leave?”

“Yeah she left about an hour ago.” Gabriel told him. “What’s got you so bubbly now?” Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Cas.

“Coffee.” Cas lied. “I’m not a morning person you know that. Coffee always makes things better.”

“Yeah, but coffee alone usually isn’t enough to make you this cheery.” Gabriel was still examining Cas closely. “You finally rub one out in the shower or something?”

Cas flushed and quickly blurted, “No! Come one Gabe, really? Does your mind always go to the most sexual thing possible?”

“Duh!” Gabriel snorted.

 Cas simply rolled his eyes and opened the fridge to pull out the carton of milk.

He could still feel Gabriel watching him with a look of scrutiny. Cas tried not to shift uncomfortably under his gaze. He hated when Gabriel tried to analyze his him like this.

Cas tried his best to just act normal. Fortunately Gabriel didn’t press Cas any further and he let the subject drop. He was sure the subject would come up again sooner or later, but for now, things were going great. The rest of the day passed by smoothly, the two of them eventually crowding into the living room to watch old movies and throw popcorn at each other.

Cas smiled lightly to himself. Something told him that, nothing in his life would ever be the same again.


End file.
